Polish Livestream Shatters Record For Cancer Charity

The news in Polish

1. influencer  (m.)
   osoba popularna w internecie, która ma wielu obserwujących i może wpływać na ich opinie oraz decyzje ↩︎
2. dziewięciodniowy
   trwający dziewięć dni ↩︎
3. livestream  (m.)
   transmisja wideo na żywo w internecie ↩︎
4. rekordowy
   największy w historii, przekraczający wszystkie poprzednie wyniki ↩︎
5. fundacja  (f.)
   organizacja, zwykle charytatywna, która zbiera i rozdaje pieniądze na określony cel ↩︎
6. akcja  (f.)
   zorganizowane działanie w jakimś celu, na przykład charytatywnym lub społecznym ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: How long did the livestream in Warsaw last?

Question 2: Who received the record amount of money collected during the livestream?

Vocabulary

Polish	English
influencer  (m.)	influencer
dziewięciodniowy	lasting nine days
livestream  (m.)	livestream
rekordowy	record (breaking)
fundacja  (f.)	foundation
akcja  (f.)	campaign / action

Read the full story

A nine-day livestream from a small flat in Warsaw has broken a world record for money raised online for charity, focusing global attention on Poland and on support for children with cancer.

The event was organised by Piotr Garkowski, a Polish influencer better known as “Łatwogang”. Broadcasting continuously on YouTube, he invited a stream of celebrities, musicians and sports stars to join him in his one-room apartment in the Praga district of Warsaw or to connect online.

The aim was to raise funds for the nationwide charity Cancer Fighters, which supports children, teenagers and adults with cancer, as well as their families, through medical, psychological and motivational help. The original target was just 500,000 złoty (around 120,000 euros). Instead, donations passed 250 million złoty during the livestream and continued to rise afterwards, reaching more than 282 million złoty by the following evening, according to Polish media.

International outlets including Reuters, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, The Guardian and People magazine reported that the campaign set a new Guinness World Record for the largest sum collected for charity during a live online broadcast. Previous records from France, worth about 19.5 million US dollars, were more than tripled. Foreign coverage highlighted that the stream, run from a modest apartment, drew support from high‑profile figures such as footballer Robert Lewandowski, tennis star Iga Świątek and Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

The livestream was inspired by a viral song, “Ciągle tutaj jestem (diss na raka)” – “I’m Still Here (diss against cancer)”, recorded by rapper Bedoes 2115 and 11‑year‑old Maja Mecan, a Cancer Fighters patient. As British daily The Guardian noted, the track functions both as a battle cry and as an emotional tribute to young patients, their parents and medical staff. The song helped turn attention online towards childhood cancers and created momentum for the fundraiser.

During the stream, the flat on Warsaw’s Praga district acted as a pop‑up studio. Polish actors, musicians, influencers and athletes appeared, including Doda, Cezary Pazura, Robert Lewandowski, Wojciech Szczęsny and his wife Marina, Sanah, Mata and others. Some offered live mini‑concerts, others re‑enacted famous scenes from films and TV series, shared recipes, commented on table‑football matches or simply talked with the host. On one occasion, long‑time rival rappers Peja and Tede publicly reconciled, a moment many commentators saw as symbolic of the stream’s attempt to go beyond old conflicts and political divisions.

Several celebrity guests, among them prominent actresses and influencers, chose to shave their heads live on camera as a gesture of solidarity with children losing their hair during chemotherapy. Łatwogang himself also shaved his head. Supporters viewed these acts as visible signs of empathy; critics, however, questioned whether comparing a voluntary haircut to the experience of serious illness was appropriate.

According to a report by the European Analytical Collective Res Futura, online reactions to the campaign were overwhelmingly positive. It found that about 97 percent of comments carried a favourable tone, with only 3 percent critical or neutral. The language most often used described a “historic record” and claimed that the Polish internet had “broken the system”. Approximately 18 percent of users raised concerns about possible “charity washing” and tax optimisation by influencers, while 82 percent of those engaged in that debate rejected moral attacks on the participants.

Media scholars in Poland have offered contrasting interpretations of the event. Professor Monika Kaczmarek‑Śliwińska, a communication specialist, compared the action to the long‑running Polish charity campaign Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy (Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, WOŚP), sometimes described as a national fundraising institution. In her view, Łatwogang’s livestream could become a kind of “WOŚP for the younger generation”, though in a different format based on online streaming with almost no organisational costs. She argues that such initiatives highlight the authenticity, values and social power of young people and show how they can mobilise older generations around goals seen as above political divisions.

Other analysts strike a more cautious tone. Professor Mirosław Filiciak describes his assessment as ambivalent. While acknowledging the difficulty of criticising an effort that brings help to children with cancer, he warns that highly emotional, one‑off campaigns can contribute to the “emotionalisation” of public life. In his view, this can make it harder to have calm discussions about systemic health‑care reforms and the responsibilities of the state and taxpayers. He notes that even very large sums raised online correspond roughly to what the Polish state spends on cancer treatment over only a few days, and therefore cannot replace long‑term public financing.

Some commentators, including economic journalist Jakub Wiech, express a similar unease. They fear that spectacular charity drives may unintentionally offer an excuse for delaying structural changes in the health system. At the same time, Kaczmarek‑Śliwińska counters that no public health system can fully cover every need, and that charitable foundations are intended to complement, not replace, state services, often stepping in where official structures are slow or incomplete.

The livestream also had significant indirect effects. Parallel to the fundraising, there was a strong push to support the DKMS Foundation, which runs a register of potential bone‑marrow and stem‑cell donors. Encouraged by Łatwogang and Bedoes, around 36,000 people reportedly registered as potential donors during the campaign, with about 25,000 signing up on the final day alone. This surge was partly linked to an appeal for a six‑month‑old boy named Leoś, a Cancer Fighters patient with a rare form of leukaemia who is seeking a compatible unrelated donor. DKMS spokespersons underlined that each new registrant could one day save the life of a person with blood cancer.

International media often framed the story as evidence of the power of online communities. India’s The Times of India emphasised how a modest fundraising goal grew “dynamically” once the event went viral, suggesting it showed what people can achieve when they unite around a cause. The Spanish‑language edition of Euronews called it a “historic action” with “countless celebrities” involved. Bloomberg pointed to Poland’s strong culture of charity and reminded readers of WOŚP as a long‑established example of large‑scale public fundraising for health care.

Debate also touched on the role of influencers in tax discussions and public finances. Some viewers noted that at least one guest on the stream is known for speaking about minimising tax payments, at the same time as encouraging charitable giving. Professor Filiciak linked this to a wider “anti‑system” rhetoric online, in which taxes are often portrayed as wasteful, while avoiding them is sometimes admired as clever. He argued that, although few people would want a society where access to treatment depends on how moving an internet campaign is, such contradictions exist in the current media environment.

For now, the record‑breaking livestream is widely seen, both in Poland and abroad, as a striking example of how digital culture can mobilise resources and attention for medical causes. At the same time, experts and commentators are using the moment to ask whether such spectacular initiatives will remain isolated emotional peaks or whether their visibility can be channelled into long‑term improvements in health‑care systems and civic engagement.

Info: ‘Polish Learner News’ is a service from ‘Let’s Learn Polish’, a language school dedicated to teaching Polish, where we offer online Polish lessons for learners at different levels. Through this service, we share updates, resources and information that support your ongoing study of the language.