Polish Olympian is auctioning off his silver medal to help save a child’s life

Winning an Olympic medal is a goal athletes work for years to achieve, but some things are more important. Polish silver medalist Piotr Małachowski finished second in discus. Now he wants to put that medal to good use. Małachowski will be auctioning off his medal to help a young child. He explained the situation on his Facebook page.

Winning an Olympic medal is one of an athlete’s life dreams. Of course, the most precious is gold. I did everything in my power to get it. Unfortunately this time I did not succeed. However, fate gave me a chance to increase the value of my “silver”.

Shortly after the competition Goshia wrote to me, the mother of little Olek, asking for help in saving her son. Olek is almost two years old, and more than half of his life he has been battle eye cancer. Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor of the eye, which occurs only in children under 5 years of age, it chooses the weakest. In Poland there is no chance of saving Olek. The only chance is treatment in New York.

I decided to help Olek and sell my medal from Rio at auction. All money from the auction will be spent on Olek’s treatment.

I also encourage all people of good will to donate money to the account, send text messages and help in any way possible. Let’s help the parents and family #OcalicOkoOlka.

In Rio I fought for gold. Today, I appeal to all for something that is even more valuable. The health of this fantastic boy. That is why I invite you all to the auction: http://bit.ly/2b41eXH. If you help me, my silver may be more valuable than gold for Olek.

The current bid for the medal is almost $20,000, which is likely a far cry from what will be needed to get Olek to New York and get him his treatment. Hopefully more money is raised, of corporations get involved to help make this dream a reality.

Piotr Małachowski is making a sacrifice few would ever dream of. All for a stranger he didn’t know until now. What an amazing athlete.

h/t Yahoo