Career
He created the Foundation "Poza horyzonty" ("Beyond the horizons"). The story began in 2002, when January, who comes from Malbork in Poland, was 13 years old. He was playing table tennis with some school friends when it suddenly started raining heavily.
He sheltered from rain in an electrical transformer building in Malbork, where he received a 15,000 volt electric shock.
The burns and tissue damage sustained meant surgeons had to amputate his left crus and right forearm. After nine days of polar acclimatisation in Spitsbergen, Norway, the team began their 70 km trek on April 4, and received no outside assistance, relying solely on the supplies and gear they could pull on sleds.
Eight months later, Mela and Kamiński reached the South Pole in Antarctica on December 31, 2004 – a day after Mela"s 16th birthday. On Christmas they ate typical Polish dishes like beetroot soup and they made a Christmas tree from snow.