After reading and re-reading....
Maybe try adding this UDF.
Then in the main procedure, on the Split line, change RemovePunctuation to removeSpecial
Code:
Function removeSpecial(sInput As String) As String
Dim sSpecialChars As String
Dim i As Long
sSpecialChars = "\/:*?™""®<>|.&@#(_+`©~);-+=^$!,'" ' list of characters to deal with
For i = 1 To Len(sSpecialChars)
sInput = Replace$(sInput, Mid$(sSpecialChars, i, 1), " ")
Next
removeSpecial = sInput
End Function