Staff members from Yorkshire Bank joined forces for a special charity football match at Macron Stadium last week to raise funds for the Martin & Eve Fund.
Each year, the bank hold a matchday here at Bolton Wanderers, organised by Paul Brady, where they collect donations for a worthy cause of their choice, with them last year supporting local toddler Ted Waring who is battling a brain tumour.
This season meanwhile, they have chosen a cause very close to the company’s heart.
Lee Kibble, Private Development Manager for the organisation, is a close friend of Bolton pair Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve who suffered horrific and life changing injuries in the Manchester Arena terror attack last May.
They were just ten metres away from the bomb when it detonated and as a result, Martin suffered 22 shrapnel wounds from the nuts and bolts from the explosion.
One of the bolts entered through his neck, destroyed a main artery and then passed through his throat, at which point he swallowed it.
He needed 16 pints of blood before he reached the intensive care unit and has had several long operations to remove the shrapnel and at first, doctors did not think he was going to survive.
The bolt that caused the most damage lodged in his spine and has left him with a T10 spinal injury which means he is now paralysed from the waist down.
He was in the trauma unit at Salford Royal until the end of June and was then in a spinal rehab centre in Southport where he was until the end of September.
Eve meanwhile is now back at home with her mum Sarah after nine months in hospital.
And with this in mind, Lee and his friends and colleagues have launched a series of fundraising events to help support the massive changes that the father and daughter duo will need for their lives going forward.
To date, the Martin & Eve Fund has raised almost £22,000 for the family, with last week’s game at Macron Stadium - which was supported by both David Lee and Tony Kelly - adding another £550 to the pot.
And speaking following the event, Lee said, "The event, as always, was fantastic and everybody really enjoyed the day.
"Being able to raise a significant sum towards our fundraising pot was the icing on the cake and I would just like thank all our guests for their kind donations and everyday involved at Yorkshire Bank and Bolton Wanderers for making the day such a success.
"Our final fundraising event involves a group of us running the Manchester 10k on Sunday 20 May which will be almost 12 months to the day since the Manchester Terror Attack, so any last minute donations are hugely appreciated."
To donate to this worthy cause meanwhile, please visit their JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/martin-and-eve-hibbert.
