Olympic Medallist Maria Andrejczyk Auctions Silver Medal To Fund Infant’s Operation

 

“Maria had missed out on a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by just 2 cm. In 2018, she was diagnosed with bone cancer and at that time her dream of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics seemed distant. She didn’t require chemotherapy but a surgery was performed and gradually she recovered”

PEGASUS REPORTERS | AUGUST 19, 2021

Just two weeks after she won her first-ever Olympic medal – a silver – at the Tokyo Olympics, Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk put her prized possession for auction when she saw the face of eight-month-old Miloszek Malysa report the Indian Times.

According to the report, the infant had a serious heart ailment and needed an urgent surgery. Hospitals across several European countries have refused to do the surgery on the baby, a native of Poland, given the complicated nature of the operation. The family’s last hope is now Stanford University Medical Center in the US that can perform the life-saving surgery.

However, the surgery will cost a fortune. Miloszek’s parents are, therefore, running an online fundraiser for their child as they require 1.5 million Polish zloty ($385,000) for his surgery. As the time is ticking and the fundraiser could raise only half the amount, parents updated their post.

As the time is ticking, Miloszek’s parents updated their post: “Miloszek’s condition is drastically deteriorating – urgent surgery is needed!”

That’s when Maria chipped in. “Miloszek has a serious heart defect and he needs an operation urgently. He already has a head-start from Kubus – a boy who didn’t make it in time but whose amazing parents decided to pass on the funds they collected. This is how I want to help too. It is for him that I am auctioning off my Olympic silver medal,” Maria wrote on her Facebook page. “It didn’t take me long to decide, it was the first fundraiser I had entered and I knew it was the right one,” posted the 25-year-old, who herself is a cancer survivor.

A Polish supermarket chain, Zabka Polska, won the auction for her medal with a bid of $125,000. However, Zabka decided to give the silver medal back to Maria and donated the huge sum of money so that Miloszek could have another shot at life.

“We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture made by Ms. Maria. We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will stay with her. We are glad that we were able to contribute,” Zabka posted.

Maria had missed out on a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by just 2 cm. In 2018, she was diagnosed with bone cancer and at that time her dream of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics seemed distant. She didn’t require chemotherapy but a surgery was performed and gradually she recovered.

At the Tokyo Games, she threw 64.61m to clinch the silver medal behind China’s gold-medal winner Shiying Liu (66.34m). Although her performance in Tokyo was close to her heart, Maria decided to put the medal for auction to save a life. “The true value of a medal always remains in the heart. A medal is only an object, but it can be of great value to others. This silver can save lives, instead of collecting dust in a closet. That is why I decided to auction it to help sick children,” she said.
At present, the fundraising page has raised more than 90 percent of its goal and is about to reach the final figure.

Culled from the Indian Times

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