Polish winter swimmers fundraise with Baltic dip and beach piano tunes

Video. Swimsuit-clad Poles fundraise with chilly swim and beach piano tunes

A group of people in Poland found a novel way of fundraising to raise medical costs for a young pianist - they got down to their bathing suits and performed a concert and swam in chilly conditions.

A group of people in Poland found a novel way of fundraising to raise medical costs for a young pianist - they got down to their bathing suits and performed a concert and swam in chilly conditions.

Musician Mikolaj's mother, Ewa Charuk, explained: "Yesterday was his birthday, he turned 16. He was born with no femur bone in one leg. People don't realise but the height difference between the two legs is 40 centimetres.

"The first stage of (Mikolaj's) treatment is funded by Polish social security. We fought for three years to achieve this in the courts. The second stage that we will finance ourselves costs around 200,000 zlotys (around 45,000 euros)."

"We are making his (Mikolaj's) dream come true, we want him to grow up normally, with our support. On April 27, he will be operated on in the United States," pianist Tomasz Szwelnik said of the fundraising attempt.