Carmelo Anthony helped provide a Christmas Day wonder, and it was unrelated with the New York Knicks playing the Boston Celtics.
The All-Star Knicks forward– with aid from his Carmelo Anthony Foundation, the Garden of Dreams Foundation and Kia— gave a new vehicle to Jarell Lara and his household hours prior to the Knicks’ 119-114 loss to the Celtics on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
As Anthony surprised household the keys to their new car, Anne Lara, Jarell’s mom, could not stop her feelings and started to cry, her knees buckling as Anthony hugged the whole household and wished them a Merry Christmas.
“I don’t think you can put that in words,” Anthony told. “That is a family that I have gotten a chance to know. My foundation donated a vehicle to them, working with Kia [and the Garden of Dreams] … and just to see the expression on their faces, the son, one of the kids wanted to cry but held it in … that is what it is all about.”
Anthony befriended Jarell, 17, who struggles with Langerhans cell histiocytosis, an unusual kind of cancer that can harm tissue and is regularly discovered in kids. Jarell finished 18 months of chemotherapy treatment previously this year, and the cancer remains in remission.
Anne Lara stopped her job as a medical assistant to look after her child, and Fernando Lara stopped his minimum-wage job to operate in the construction field while moving his household from their Washington Heights home in upper Manhattan to the more budget friendly South Bronx in order to much better cover medical expenditures.
When Knicks players took households in need vacation shopping recently, Anthony took the Laras on a $2,000 spree.
“I believed somebody was punking me,” Jarell informed MSGNetworks.com of exactly what he believed when Anthony informed the household to come over to the filling dock ramp at the Garden where the vehicle was parked. “It hasn’t sunk in. It’s a true blessing from God. There are a lot of individuals [that] Carmelo Anthony can assist, and he opted to assist me. It’s the greatest Christmas you might request.”
“I’m a strong individual,” Jarell included. “I never ever believed I would not make it. I had some difficult days, however on those days, understanding Carmelo had my back helped me get through.”
Anthony, who met Jarell almost a year ago through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Garden of Dreams and the Knicks, almost provided his biggest fan a bonus gift when he scored 29 points and assisted the Knicks tie the score late after routing by 13 in the 4th. The Celtics, however, hung on.
It was a Christmas to bear in mind for Anthony, who will always remember the day he helped create a Christmas wonder for the Lara household.
“She lost it,” Anthony stated of Anne. “I came [to the Garden] focused on the game and trying to come up with strategies to beat Boston and try to enjoy this game. [But] then you have to shift entirely to just life in a snap of a finger. It was more emotional than anything.”
“This is larger than sport, larger than basketball,” Anthony stated minutes after surprising the household. “Two wonderful foundations coming together, making a family happy, making a dream come true. Giving them a time of happiness. The family, as you can see, the mom is still crying. It is a bit of a surprise. They had no idea it was coming, and I am happy that I was able to kind of make this happen.”
