Maria Andrejczyk likely did not receive much attention during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but she is certainly getting it after her wonderful and selfless gesture.
The Polish Olympian won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the javelin throw, but wouldn’t have that medal for too long after she heard about a sick 8-month-old baby, Miloszek Malysa, who needs heart surgery. The 25-year-old immediately decided to auction off her silver medal as a fundraiser to help pay for the boy to undergo surgery at the Stanford University Medical Center.
“It didn’t take me long to decide, it was the first fundraiser I entered and I knew it was the right one. Miloszek has a serious heart defect and is in need of surgery.”
Just a few days later, she announced that the winner of the auction was Żabka, a Polish supermarket chain. Zabka paid $125,000 for the medal, which they are returning to Andrejczyk. She had more than enough to have that surgery paid for.
“The winner, and at the same time, the company I will be eternally grateful to is the company Zabka. It is with the greatest pleasure to give you Zabka this medal, which for me is a symbol of struggle, faith and pursuit of dreams despite many odds.”
“I hope that for you it will be a symbol of the life we fought for together.”
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Maria issued a response to The Times (UK).
“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.”
Andrejcyzk has a story of her own as she beat bone cancer in 2018.
