A FUNDRAISING campaign launched by friends and family of a 27-year-old Polish mother has raised over €40,000 to grant her dying wish to return to her home town in Poland. Marta Salacka, who lives in Castleconnell with her husband Mariusz and four-year-old son Nicodem, was diagnosed with terminal leukaemia in recent weeks. The young mother had undergone chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed in the spring, however her condition deteriorated and doctors recently broke the news that there was nothing more they could do.
Her friend, Monika Habrych, who helped organise the appeal, told the Limerick Post: “The doctors said it would be a matter of weeks if she didn’t do the chemotherapy; months if she did. Her last wish is to go home to her parents’ house in Poland. If she started chemotherapy here, she wouldn’t be able to leave Ireland.”
Marta’s friends had initially aimed to raise €20,000 to cover the cost of an air ambulance to fly her to Gorzow Wielkopolski in Poland, however over the last week, money flooded into a special account set up for the fund.
The remaining money will be used to pay for her treatment in Poland.
Monika revealed: “The good news is that we have now enough money to send Marta home with the air ambulance. I don’t know when she will fly as the family is still waiting for some answers from the Polish doctors. I’d say they might leave at the end of this week or early next week.”
She added: “We are still collecting all the money so I don’t have the exact amount but it’s approximately €40,000. I just hope there will be miracle and something else can be done for her.”
Monika paid tribute to the generosity of the Irish and Polish public over the course of the campaign.
“I don’t think we would be able to achieve such a success in Poland. Irish people and Polish who are now in Ireland are great. I had people ringing me from Holland, England, Germany and Austria. Everyone was very nice and helpful. It really makes me happy to know that people are so good and helpful”, she said.
