Millions raised to save Polish toddler's life

Two-and-a-half-year-old Dawid Drapacz was born with a rare and life-threatening heart and lung deformity which cannot be treated in Poland, according to the siepomaga.pl website.

“If we do not do anything, Dawid will die in agony. One day his heart will not give enough oxygen to his blood, the blood will thicken, and our son will choke,” the boy’s mother, Ela Drapacz, said, according to the website.

His only chance for survival is surgery which only Dr Frank Hanley from a Stanford children’s hospital has agreed to perform, Drapacz’s parents are cited by the website as saying.

But the surgery would cost some USD 2.5 million, roughly PLN 9 million, Drapacz’s parents said, the website reported.

During a four-month-long online fundraising drive, nearly 200,000 donors helped the family reach their PLN 5 million target on the siepomaga.pl website, including record-high individual donations of PLN 80,000 and PLN 50,000.

“We managed to collect more than PLN 5 million for saving the life of our little heart,” Drapacz’s parents wrote on social media after the target was reached, adding that they felt “enormous relief and gratitude.

The charitable website is still collecting donations which will be earmarked for Dawid’s post-operative care, siepomaga.pl said. (vb/di)

Source: siepomaga.pl