Thousands raised to help family of woman who died rescuing son from sea in East Cork

The GoFundMe appeal said Joanna Wisniowśka is "a superwoman for saving your son"

Joanna Wisniowśka was a mother of two who was originally from Strzyzow in Poland but who was living with her family for some time in the Cloyne area.

More than €10,000 has been donated to a GoFundMe to help the family of the brave Polish mother who drowned while saving her son off East Cork at the weekend.

Joanna Wisniowśka, who died on Sunday after pushing her son onto the safety of rocks off Ballycroneen beach, near Cloyne, was described as “a superwoman” for saving her son.

“Joanna you are a superwoman for saving your son in his time of need and he will never forget your heroism that has given him the opportunity to make you a very proud mommy,” the fundraising appeal reads.

“There is nothing more precious than a mother's love and unfortunately two beautiful children will not get to experience the full loving potential that Joanna wanted to, but won't have the chance to provide.” 

The appeal was set up by Louise van Balderen, whose daughter was with Ms Wisniowśka’s family at the beach on Sunday, and who helped raise the alarm. Ms van Balderen told PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96fm on Tuesday that mums are "the front-line of the family".

"Dads are very important but mums know where the plasters are," she said. 

It's such a difficult time. It’s a like a bad dream that no-one can wake up from.

“Joanna rocked up at the door and said does anybody want to go to the beach, and I said that’s no problem, like she’s done numerous times, and it was just supposed to be a quick trip to the beach and back again.

“I think over the summer people just need to watch your kids, and those rip tides—you don’t think how strong they are until something like this.”

Ms Wisniowśka, a mother of two who was originally from Strzyzow in Poland but who was living with her family for some time in the Cloyne area, entered the water off Ballycroneen beach at around 1pm on Sunday when her son got into difficulty.

But while she managed to get her son onto the safety of rocks, Ms Wisniowśka got into difficulty herself in the water. A major rescue operation was launched by Valentia Coast Guard involving the Ballycotton and Crosshaven RNLI crews, as well as local coast guard units and the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117.

Members of the Ballycotton and Guileen coast guard units located the young boy on the rocks a short time later and he was winched to safety by the crew of Rescue 117.

Ms Wisniowśka was rescued from the water some time later in a joint operation by both lifeboat crews and was transferred to Ballycotton pier, from where she was airlifted in critical condition to Cork University Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Ms Wisniowśka, her partner Maciej and their children, Stanislaw and Zofia, were described as being “deeply rooted in the community”. Now, their friends have launched a GoFundMe to help them.

It reads: “The loss of anyone close to you is the hardest thing in the world but the death of a parent at a young age feels like everything around them has come to an end, especially when it's a mother.

Mothers are the women around you who guide you—the ones who encourage your dreams, help you pick up the pieces when you falter on your way to those dreams, and believe in you even in the moments when you don’t anymore.

“They are the women who inspire you, who represent all you hope to someday become a fraction of. They are the ones we go to from ‘a scraped knee to a broken heart’.

“They would even give their life to save yours not thinking twice.

“A lot of people have asked 'how can we help?', this would be a way you can show your support. From the bottom of everyone's hearts we truly are devastated in this tragedy.”