UNDERSTANDING SUFFERING- POLISH DOCTOR

“She was the only one who didn't let me feel my past. When I got out of prison, she fed me, gave me my first glasses and money for my ID card. She got a job. I was proud then, because someone trusted me, a rotten recidivist.”

 These are the words of one of the prisoners who was helped by SERVANT of GOD DOCTOR ALEKSANDRA GABRYSIAK, known in Elbląg as Doctor Ola. 

Aleksandra Gabrysiak was born on April 16, 1942 in Radzymin near Warsaw. Her father was a teacher. They came from Greater Poland, but were displaced by the Germans to Radzymin. After the war, they first moved to Żnin near Piła, and in 1947 to Gdańsk. Ola had two younger brothers: Maciej, who was two years younger, and Tom, who was born after the war. 

In her childhood, Ola became ill with an incurable disease of the musculoskeletal system (vitamin-Dopom rickets), which caused her a lot of suffering throughout her life. From childhood, touched by her own suffering, wanted to bring relief to others. Her cross was always heavy. The surgeries she underwent in her youth and multiple anesthesia weakened her memory, causing her to have to study longer than her peers. She did not get into medicine immediately, so worked as a ward for a year. While she was not considered brilliant in her field, she gained everything through hard work. However, in the economy of salvation, she received the  great gift  of a sensitive heart, in which there was no selfishness, only a care for others. 

She always spoke about God, about His selfless love, and this supposedly harmed the structures of the secular state. "As a doctor in Tczew, she started the day with Holy Mass and Holy Communion. She often prepared patients in the hospital before the priest came for confession, especially patients who were lapsed from the sacraments. Her door  was always open to people who needed help.

She was best known among the people in need, the wounded, and those  from the margins: alcoholics, drug addicts, AIDS patients and single mothers. Sometimes she gave money, sometimes food, sometimes she helped arrange some matters in the office, sometimes she also gave shelter . In spite of her own sufferings and disability she moved on crutches, with more and more difficulty each year.

In March 1974 Dr. Aleksandra adopted Marysia. It was a great happiness for her. Marysia's adoption gave her more strength and commitment. 

 On Christmas Eve 1990, she took in her home  a drunk 18-year-old with a criminal history, who she found at the railway station in Elbląg. Marysia was then 16 years old. The doctor hoped that  it would be possible to give the young man  a normal family life.

However, things turned out differently. Zbyszek was not like a brother to Mary, because he fell in love with her. The 18-year-old only briefly participated in drug addiction treatment. He quickly returned to his old company. He began to bully the doctor who gave him shelter. His colleagues robbed her apartment.

 Doctor Ola decided that the boy could no longer stay in the apartment.  She found a family who agreed to help, taking the young man in, but he robbed these people as well and escaped, living on the streets again.

 Eventually, he was caught by the police and brought to trial. In April 1992, he was sentenced for theft with burglary. He was then less than 20 years old. Doing well behind bars, he started getting 24-hour passes. He came to the apartment on May 1st, with , only Marysia at home. Brzoskowski tortured and killed her. When Dr. Ola entered the apartment, he murdered her as well.

 He was sentenced to death for this crime but later given life in prison. It does not appear from his statements that he regretted what he had done.

A marble plaque on her grave reads: "A noble and good woman. She died a tragic death together with her daughter Marysia". Everyone who knew her spoke of her holiness.