Maria Andrejczyk, a Polish Olympian auctioned her silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics to earn funds for a life-saving operation for a baby boy. The buyer later said that she could keep her medal.
Maria Andrejczyk, a 25-year-old javelin thrower competed in this year’s Olympics despite overcoming bone cancer and a shoulder injury. She said she decided to auction her medal to help the boy because she knew how much she had to “fight against adversity and pain.”
The donations will play a big part in helping Milosz Malysa. He is an infant with a serious cardiac condition. His family has been fundraising for him to have surgery in the United States. Milosz’s parents stated last week that the kid was in danger of dying shortly if the operation doesn’t take place immediately.
Zabka, a well-known convenience store brand in Poland, offered 200,000 zlotys ($51,000) but stated the athlete may keep her medal.
“We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian,” Zabka said.
Fans have contributed another 300,000 ($76,500) to the boy’s cause.
Even before the winning offer, officials in Andrejczyk’s Polish community declared they would build her a duplicate of the medal. She surely won the Olympics and our hearts.