On 22nd May 2017, my friend and his daughter were out to have an amazing night watching Ariana Grande perform at the Manchester Arena. We all know what happened next.

Martin and Eve were the closest people to the bomb who survived and without the incredible skill, care and talent of the staff at Salford Royal, Manchester Childrens Hospital and later on the Spinal Injury Unit at Southport, their lives would not have been saved.

Martin and I are taking on the Manchester 10K together with the wonderful Richie Powell, former TeamGB Paralympian. It's our first race together, Martin's first since the bombing and the event happens almost 1 year to the day after that horrific night.

I'm sure anyone looking at this page knows me and/or Martin and does not need me to convince them of anything, but from a personal perspective, I can honestly say that Martin's bravery, dedication and determination have been nothing short of an inspiration to me. He has never, for a second, let this slow him down or change his outlook on life and his attitude to the hand that he and his daughter have been dealt is nothing short of remarkable.

I am honoured to count him as a friend.

Without the amazing efforts of the countless people at the three institutions mentioned above who worked tirelessly and relentlessly on both my friend and his daughter, neither of them would be here today and the world would be a worse place.

We are in the process of incorporating a charity to raise as much funding for these three amazing institutions as we possibly can over the next few weeks, months and hopefully years, but we won't be ready in time for our first challenge, so we'd love for you to donate to us here for now. All funds we raise will go to helping these amazing people do more work, with better equipment for more people. It's our sole focus.

All proceeds will go to Salford Royal, Southport Spinal Unit & Manchester Children’s Hospitals, so please, give generously, however large or small an amount that may be.

Thank you, in advance... We love you all.

You can find me on twitter here: Lee on Twitter

Martin here: Martin on Twitter

Richie here: Richie on Twitter

The Martin Hibbert Charity Foundation here: TheMHCF