Polish Olympian Auctions Off Silver Medal to Save 3-Year-Old Boy With Eye Cancer

Polish discus thrower Piotr Malachowski auctioned off his silver medal this week to pay for cancer treatment for a three-year-old boy whose mother wrote to him pleading for help.

The 33-year-old wrote on Facebook that he decided to auction off his medal after receiving a letter from the mother of a boy named Olek, who has been battling eye cancer for the past two years—more than half of his life. Retinoblastoma most often strikes children under the age of five “choosing the weakest,” Malachowski wrote. He said the treatment Olek needs is not available in Poland and his only chance for survival is treatment in New York, so he wanted to sell his medal to help pay for the boy’s expenses. He vowed that all the proceeds from the auction would be “earmarked for treatment.”

“I encourage all people of goodwill to pay money into your account, send text messages and help in every way possible. Let’s help the parents and family,” he wrote. “In Rio I fought for the gold. Today I appeal to everyone – let’s fight together about something that is even more precious. The health of this fantastic boy … If you help me, my silver … can be more precious than gold.”

Four days later Malachowski wrote that the auction had closed ahead of schedule because Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk “declared their willingness to buy my silver medal for an amount which enables us to meet the goal set.” The Polish couple agreed to pay $19,000 for Malachowski’s Olympic prize.

“We were able to show that together we can make miracles,” he said. “My silver medal today is worth much more than a week ago … This is our big joint success.”

Spoken like a true hero!