“To kick things off and lead by example, we are making an initial donation of $50,000 to honour this absolute hero and help support him through recovery, and the lasting impact of this traumatic event,” it concluded.
“No one expects to be a hero, but when the moment came, he was. Any contribution, big or small, is a powerful way to say thank you.”
It didn’t take long before donations started dropping in. On Thursday, Zachery Dereniowski surprised Ahmed at the hospital by delivering a $2.5 million check. The hero was, of course, shocked. But in a video uploaded on Dereniowski’s TikTok page, Ahmed began by asking a question no one could ever have imagined.
“I deserve it?”
Zachery replied that he deserved “every penny” and asked Ahmed whether he wanted to say anything to the donors.
“To stand with each other, all human beings and forget everything bad behind the back [in the past] and keep going to save lives,” the hero said.
“When I do save the people, I do it from the heart because it was a nice day, everyone enjoying, celebrating with their kids. Woman, man, teenager, all of this, everyone was happy and they deserve to enjoy and it’s their right. This country, best country in the world, the best country in the world but we’re not going to stand and keep watching, enough is enough.”
Ahmed Al-Ahmed concluded, “God protect Australia. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.”
