Story at a glance
- Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk auctioned her silver medal from this year’s Olympic games to help raise money for a baby boy.
- Eight-month-old Miloszek Malysa is suffering from a heart defect and needed to raise funds to travel to California so he could undergo surgery at Stanford University Medical Center.
- Polish convenience store chain Zabka had the winning bid.
An Olympian auctioned off her medal to help pay for a baby’s life-saving surgery.
Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk auctioned her silver medal from this year’s Olympic games to help raise money for 8-month-old Miloszek Malysa, who is suffering from a heart defect. Maylsa needed to raise funds of 1.5 million zlotys, equalling about $385,000, to travel to California so he could undergo surgery at Stanford University Medical Center.
Andrejczyk, a cancer survivor, saw the fundraiser the boy’s family was holding online and decided to pitch it.
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“And that’s how I also want to help. He’s the one I’m auctioning off my silver medal of the Olympic Games [for],” she wrote on Facebook.
Andrejczyk, who came in fourth at the Rio Olympics in 2016, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, in 2018 and underwent surgery. Following her recovery and training, she took home the silver medal for javelin on Aug. 6.
Andrejczyk announced on Monday that Polish convenience store chain Zabka had the winning bid for the full amount.
In its own announcement on Facebook, Zabka revealed a further act of kindness.
“We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture [Andrejczyk made],” Zabka wrote. “We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will stay with Ms. Maria.”
It isn’t clear how soon Malysa will travel for his surgery.
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