Influencer Piotr Hancke, known as Łatwogang, has begun a charity bicycle journey from Zakopane to Gdańsk to raise 12 million PLN for the gene therapy of Maks Tocki, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
A Race Against Time for DMD Treatment
Piotr Hancke, better known as Łatwogang, has launched his latest charitable challenge. After a brief hiatus, he is cycling across Poland while live-streaming his progress to raise 12 million PLN for eight-year-old Maks Tocki. The boy is fighting Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a severe genetic condition causing progressive muscle loss.
The funds are required for life-saving gene therapy in the United States. Following the influencer’s previous successful record-breaking stream for the Cancer Fighters Foundation, this new initiative seeks to provide the financial support necessary for the boy’s treatment.
The Challenge and Logistics
The journey from Zakopane to Gdańsk covers approximately 700 kilometers. Hancke plans to complete the route in roughly 40 hours, with only one planned two-hour nap. He stated that he is essentially riding wherever the path takes him, focusing on the goal rather than a strict route.
Hancke has committed to an additional challenge: if the full 12 million PLN goal is met before he reaches the coast, he will take a short rest and immediately cycle all the way back to Zakopane. He emphasized that the real feat is the daily struggle faced by children with DMD, not his cycling effort.
Family Hope and Community Support
Maks’s parents, Anna and Robert Tocki, describe the campaign as a “light at the end of the tunnel.” After years of struggling to keep the family’s private fundraising efforts moving, they feel a renewed sense of optimism. They previously withheld the diagnosis from Maks to protect his childhood, but are now encouraging him to fight with the same determination his father showed during his own battle with cancer.
The family expressed immense gratitude toward Hancke, whom they had not known previously. As DMD is a degenerative condition, the parents stress that time is their greatest adversary, making the rapid pace of the current fundraising campaign vital for the boy’s future.