In order to raise funds for a three-year-old boy with a rare form of cancer, Polish discus thrower Piotr Malachowski has donated his Olympic silver medal he won in Rio.
33-year-old Malachowski won his second Olympic silver medal this year after he was beat out by Germany’s Christoph Harting by 82cm, and won his first silver eight years ago in Beijing.
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Malachowski’s donations will help give 3-year-old Olek Syzmanski the ability to go to New York for a special treatment. Olek was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, which is an eye cancer that affects young children.
“My silver medal is worth a lot more than a week ago,” Malachowski stated. “It is worth the health of of little Olek.”
He continued, “We were able to show that together we can do wonders. It is our great shared success.”
When talking about the medal Malachowski stated, “Winning an Olympic medal is one of an athlete’s life dreams. Of course, the most precious is gold.” He continued, “I did everything in my power to get it. Unfortunately this time I did not succeed.”
In a Facebook post, Malachowski writes, “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.”
Piotr Malachowski has put the medal up for auction, and the highest bid thus far is about $20,000. The auction ends this Friday on August 26.
In addition to Malachowski’s efforts, the Polish charity Siepomaga has raised about a third of the $126,000 needed for the treatment.
The discus thrower offered this inspiring message at the end of his Facebook post, “If you help me, my silver can be more precious than gold.”
We commend Piotr Malachowski for this outstanding act of generosity, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Olek.
[H/T BBC, Huffington Post]
