By Izabela Muczynska

Cristiano Ronaldo’s childhood was not easy. His father was an alcoholic which caused his early death. CR7’s brother Hugo was also a drug addict. When Ronaldo first started earning money, he provided his brother professional treatment that could help to fight his addiction. We can easily say that Ronaldo has been growing up in poverty and had to face many problems as a child. Maybe these sad experiences had an influence on beginning his charity activities.

We might love or hate Ronaldo, but we all have to agree, this man is really open-handed. Rumours say that the Portuguese striker playing for Real Madrid earns around 20 million euros a year. That is a massive amount of money. However, he spends a lot of his salary on helping charity organisations, mostly ones that look after seriously ill children. He is also well-known for contacting families of these kids individually.

One of the most popular examples is the story of a young Polish Real Madrid fan, Dawid Pawlaczyk. The 14-year old boy was hit by a car while riding his bike. After the accident, doctors claimed that his chances to survive were really low. Dawid’s parents were truly devastated. He was in a coma for over three months. His parents had never given up hope that their son would wake up. Always putting the football on the television in his room. One day, when Real Madrid was playing and his idol, Ronaldo scored a goal, Dawid has finally woke up. One of the Polish newspapers, Fakt, decided to share this incredible story with Ronaldo. He got back to them immediately, claiming that he is willing to meet this young lad. Thanks to the newspaper and his agent, Jorge Mendes, Dawid Pawlaczyk’s dreams of meeting his idol came true. Ronaldo invited the young fan and his parents to Madrid. He paid for all the travel costs and gave them VIP tickets, so they could watch Real Madrid playing Borussia Dortmund at Santiago Bernabeu, from one of the best seats in the stadium. Ronaldo and Dawid met face-to-face after the game finished, Real Madrid’s forward was asking many questions about the boy’s current condition and invited him to see another game. CR7 also gave him the football kit he wore during the game.

Not a long time after he has changed Dawid’s life, Ronaldo surprised again. He was asked to donate his signed shoes and ball, so parents can raise money and pay for 10-months old Erik Ortiz Cruz’s brain surgery. They received them all, plus additional Real Madrid’s gadgets. There was another surprise though. Ronaldo has decided to cover all the costs of Erik’s surgery.

He can be seen as an arrogant and self-confident man, but there is only one thing he has for sure, it’s called empathy. CR7 is unable to ignore people being suffering and that show what kind of person Cristiano Ronaldo really is.