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'Something More Precious:' Rio 2016 Discus Thrower Auctions Silver Medal

CBN

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Discus thrower Piotr Malachowski won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and then tried to give it away to help a little boy who desperately needed help. 

The Poland native decided to auction off his medal to raise funds to for a 3-year-old boy, Olek Szymanski, who is battling eye cancer. 

The overall surgery costs added up to $126,000. 

"If you help me, my silver medal may turn out to be more precious than gold for Olek. There is no chance of saving Olek's eyes in Poland. The only chance is therapy in New York," he said on Facebook, adding that he would use the entire sum raised to pay for treatment.

"I fought for gold in Rio. Today I'm calling on everyone to fight for something even more precious," Malachowski wrote on Facebook. 

A Polish foundation called Siepomaga, raised about a third of the roughly $126,000 that was needed to finance the boy's treatment at ophthalmic oncologist David Abramson's clinic in New York.

Malachowski was looking to raise about $84,000 for the boy's surgery, but the richest siblings in Poland ended up buying the silver silver medal that would cover the necessary amount. 

Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk, are worth 34 billion. 

Piotr Malachowski posted on Facebook Tuesday that he prematurely closed the auction because the Kulczyk siblings "declared their willingness to buy my silver medal for an amount which enables us to meet the goal set."

Malachowski's highest bid for his medal reached $19,000 on Tuesday before the auction was pulled down. 

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