Dates are not given in the article, and a bit of a puzzle. Karolina's mother died in 2019. This was supposedly 28 years after being diagnosed, which brings us

Dates are not given in the article, and a bit of a puzzle. Karolina's mother died in 2019. This was supposedly 28 years after being diagnosed, which brings us to 1991. And that was when Karolina was 12. (Her DOB is defying attempts at uncovery.) They supposedly fled Poland around ten years before communism fell, according to a remark in the story, so maybe 1980. But Karolina would have to have been an infant; she wouldn't remember anything about Poland, let alone a camp in Treiskirchen, Austria. Her mom remarked during their visit to the camp, "You chased a boy for bread. [...] You were always hungry.” So at least a toddler, perhaps as as old as 3 or 4? Maybe they left Poland more toward the mid 1980's; not ten years before communism fell.