Stories of bravery amid Nairobi's terrorist siege
Out of the horror of this week’s tragic, terrorist-led
attacks in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi,
two heroes have been regaled for their bravery and selflessness. One is an
ex-marine. The other is a four year old boy. Both are British.
As Islamic extremists reigned terror inside an exclusive
shopping complex, firing inadvertently at shoppers, a British ex-marine, seated
with friends in a coffee shop within the complex, did not hesitate to help
shoppers escape. Amid the onslaught of gunfire, he escorted two women to safety
outside, then returned again and again, still under resounding, heavy gunfire,
to escort up to 100 people to safety.
The siege caused the deaths of over 60 civilians and six
terrorists, believed to be Al Shabaab militants. Over 170 people were injured
and around 11 suspects have been taken into custody.
The four year old British boy, Elliot Prior, his sister and
mother were first-hand witnesses to the unfolding terror in Nairobi’s
Westgate Mall, with their mother falling victim to a gunshot wound to the leg
after hiding and shielding her children for an hour and a half before being
found by a gunman. While his six year old sister hid behind his injured mother,
the boy stood up to one of the gunmen, informing him that he was a “very bad
man” and telling him that he should allow them to leave. The gunman paused,
impressed by the boy’s bravery, and handed out Mars bars to him and his sister,
reportedly stating “Please forgive me. We are not monsters.”
Man donates his dream of a cure to a 5-year-old boy
In another story, 25 year old paralysed man, Dan Black from South
Wales, selflessly gave £20 000, money he’d been raising for almost four years
to fund stem cell research, to five year old, Brecon Vaughan, for an operation
that will make him walk. Brecon has a rare form of cerebral palsy and requires
a frame to assist in walking. His family needs to raise £60 000 for an
operation to be conducted in the United States.
Mr. Black was knocked off his bicycle in 2009, resulting in
paralysis from the chest down and a non-functioning arm due to a stroke from
the same incident.
‘I know for me that things aren’t going to get better any time soon,’ he
said. ‘I just wanted to do something that could help someone whose life could
get better.
‘Brecon can definitely walk if he has the surgery. I wouldn’t wish being
paralysed on anyone, so if I can help someone walk, I will.’
Reception dinner for 200 homeless
And in Georgia, Atlanta, Willie and Carol Fowler, the parents of a woman who
cancelled her wedding plans 40 days before the wedding, has donated the
reception dinner to the homeless. With everything booked and paid for, the
Fowlers would have lost the non-refundable deposit portion had they cancelled
the dinner. Instead, they donated the lot to 200 homeless people through Hosea
Feed the Hungry, a non profit charity organisation.
“We went home that evening and my husband woke up the next morning and I was
in the process of cancelling out the venue and he said, 'No, what we'll do is
donate it to Hosea Feed the Hungry,'" Carol Fowler told ABCNews.com today.
"It was a vision," Fowler said of her husband's idea. "He
said he had prayed on it during the night and God had directed him and that's
what we were going to do."
Six-year-old boy raises $400 000 for sick friend
Six year old, Dylan Siegal has raised $400 000 in a bid to help his friend
who was diagnosed with a potentially fatal, rare disease and compromised immune
system.
Dylan wrote and illustrated a book, titled Chocolate Bar, initially
raising $6000 through his school before word spread and he included T-shirts,
phone covers and bags to his fund raising efforts. The money will fund research
into the glycogen storage disease, which affects the liver and causes a
potentially fatal and significant drop in blood sugar levels.
Dr David Weinstein, who studies the disease and is working with 200 families,
told ABC News that he was stunned by the donation, which arrived, amazingly,
one day before his lab was due to close through lack of funding.
"He's raised more money for this disease than all the medical
foundations and all the grants combined. Ever."
