Carmelo Anthony's Christmas Day game started at noon Sunday. But he still found time to dish out presents in the morning.
Working with the Garden of Dreams Foundation, Anthony delivered the keys of a new Kia car to Jarell Lara, a 17-year-old suffering from a rare form of cancer called Langerhan's Cell Histiocytosis. Lara recently completed 18 months of chemotherapy. During that time, his mother quit her job to take care of him and his father worked a construction job to pay expenses.
Emotional moment when Melo gives car - w/ Garden of Dreams Foundation-Kia + his foundation - 2 Jarell Lara, 17, who has rare form of cancer pic.twitter.com/Zr5zXkScmN
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) December 25, 2016
A brand new car, courtesy of @CarmeloAnthony & the @gardenofdreams! #NBAXmas #NBACares pic.twitter.com/T0DoCTVvms
— NBA (@NBA) December 25, 2016
Witnessed a Christmas Miracle 2day w @carmeloanthony surprising one of our @gardenofdreams families w a car. #ThisIsWhyWePlay @MSGNetworks pic.twitter.com/5SS4Rkz7cD
— Rebecca Haarlow (@RebeccaHaarlow) December 25, 2016
The family's emotion is evident and Lara's mother openly weeps. Jarell can't stop hugging Melo. Anthony seems ditty and cannot wait to hand off the keys. Santa Carmelo has a ring to it.
Melo gave his team a solid outing on the court, scoring a game-high 29 points. It was not enough, as the Knicks fell to the Celtics, 119-114.
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