As reported by Ahmed Areff of News24.com:
Teen rescuer: Drowning man was saying ‘help, help’
He did not get the name of the man he rescued.
Dodd said he did not expect the publicity following the rescue.
“I did not expect that it would be this big a deal. People sometimes come up to me and say well done.”
When asked if being a hero had secured him any dates, he laughed and said, “not yet”.
He said getting the award was an amazing experience.
“Jislaaik, it was good.”
News24 reported at the time that Dodd never even told his mother Jacqui about the rescue. She found out about it from a photographer who happened to be there and put the pictures on Facebook.
She said she phoned Dodd the next day, while he was at school, and said to him: “Hey dude, you saved somebody’s life, and he said ‘ja, cool hey’.”
She said at the time that when she wanted him to do chores around the house, he joked he did not have to because he was a hero.
“I tell him your 15 minutes are over, now go clean your room.”