Carmelo Anthony makes Christmas special for young Knicks fan with cancer

Before playing against the Celtcs, Melo donated a car to a 17-year-old cancer patient

Before playing in his fifth career Christmas game, Carmelo Anthony made sure that a family of Knicks fans would have an extra special holiday.

Teaming up with the Garden of Dreams, Anthony met with Jarrell Lara, a 17-year-old who suffers from a rare form of cancer, and gave the young Knicks fan and his family the Christmas gift of a brand new car.

The car will make life easier for the Lara family, especially since, as ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reports, Jarrell's mother and father had to change up their careers in order to help pay for medical expenses:

Lara, 17, suffers from a rare form of cancer called Langerhan's Cell Histiocytosis. He just finished 18 months of chemo treatment earlier this year. Anne Lara quit her job as a medical assistant to care for her son and Fernando Lara had to take a construction job and move his family from their Washington Heights home to the South Bronx to pay for medical expenses.

Anthony described the moment as "the highlight of his day," which shows there is more to life than basketball for the Knicks star.

"This is bigger than sports." Anthony said. "This is bigger than basketball. This is two wonderful foundations coming together, making a family happy, making a dream come true, giving them a day of happiness. The mom is still back there crying. It's a bit of surprise, they had no idea it was coming, but I'm happy that I was able to make this happen."