With a big grin on his face, 6-year-old Gancci Saintelus cheered on his principal and his teammates representing his school at a charity basketball game Tuesday night put together in his honor.
It's bringing the young boy one step closer to a new life.
"I think this is one of the biggest blessing in our lives," Gancci's father, Olgan Saintelus exclaimed.
A blessing after experiencing horror in Haiti. During the massive earthquake last January, the family's third-story apartment collapsed while Olgan's three children were inside, burying them all under the rubble.
"I hadn't really any hope to meet my kids alive," Olgan recalled.
But 10 hours after a debilitating search, Olgan heard Gancci's voice.
"I'm crying for help because I said I heard one of them alive but some of people doesn't believe me," Olgan said.
All three children were eventually rescued. Gancci was the most seriously injured with blood gushing from his head and his right arm crushed. Like so many other earthquake victims, they were flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital on January 14th, 2010. Gancci's arm was amputated because of an infection.
Gancci, who is in kindergarten at David Lawrence Junior K-8 Center in North Miami, is making due with his left hand, and fitting in easily with the other kids. But his prosthetic arm is too long and he needs a new one.
So Gancci's principal decided to sweat it out on the hardwood at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning senior High School, pitting his school against Sunny Isles K-8 Center, to raise money for his family.
"All the proceeds that we raised from our school are going to go to him and his family," Bernard Osborne stated.
Terri Bukacheski, who owns a prosthetic manufacuring company, Orth Pro Associates, showed up at the game to tell the Saintelus family she'd like to donate a fitted arm to Gancci.
"Our company will go ahead and do that fabrication and fitting to make sure he gets what he needs," she said.
And because of everything Gancci has endured, he tells NBC Miami he plans to give back. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up he excitedly exclaimed "a doctor, so I can save the children."
