A baby with a heart condition needed just under 330,000 euros to be able to continue living. Because a large part of the money was still missing, the Polish javelin thrower and Olympic runner-up Maria Andrejczyk auctioned off her silver medal without further ado.
There is probably little better than competing at the Olympics and winning one of the medals. The Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk managed to do that and still found something even more important: she auctioned her silver medal to enable a heart operation for a baby with heart disease.
Little baby needs badly needed heart surgery
Maria Andrejczyk found out on the Internet that the eight-month-old Milosz from Cieszyn in Silesia needed an urgently needed heart operation. Only half of the required amount of 1.5 million zlotys (the equivalent of around 330,000 euros) was collected. Andrejczyk therefore decided to take over the other half.
The athlete herself suffered from bone cancer in 2018, but was successfully treated. Perhaps it was also because she acted so decisively: “I didn’t think about it for long, it was the first fundraising event I took part in, and I knew it was the right one,” wrote the top athlete on Instagram.
Double happy end after appeal for donations
After her appeal for donations, there was a double happy ending: The medal was bought by a Polish supermarket chain and paid enough money to make the operation possible for little Milosz. In addition, the javelin thrower can keep her medal.
“We are touched by the beautiful and unusually noble gesture of our Olympic athlete,” wrote the chain on Facebook.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
