Hansel Emmanuel Donato tells ESPN his beautiful story of overcoming and how he has fought to achieve his dream
Little by little Kikimita He is making a name for himself in the world of basketball, but the road has been far from easy.
Born in Santo Domingo, Hansel Emmanuel Donato He is the son of the local Dominican basketball legend Hansel salvador, better known as Kikima, who recounts how since he was little his son professed his love for this sport.
“I never left him to go to the games. If he stayed one day he would go to my mother to cry and tell her to take him ”, he tells ESPN, Kikima who remembers that moment that changed everyone’s life.
While her father was playing in a local tournament, Kikimita was with some friends in the neighborhood when a wall caused her to lose her left arm.
“I climbed the wall (made of cement blocks) and the wall fell on me,” says Hansel Emmanuel. Katia DominguezHansel’s mother also remembers the moment when the wall crushed her arm. His mother cries when she remembers that there was no way to save her upper limb.
After having her arm amputated, Kikimita needed help to do everyday things, which her disability no longer allowed her.
“I didn’t want to do anything. I couldn’t tie my shoelaces, I couldn’t have a glass of water. I lost my balance running ”.
In addition, Kikima remembers those difficult moments when as a child Hansel Emmanuel asked him what why did the other children have his two arms or when hers was going to grow.
A decade after the accident, Kikimita’s videos reached social networks and became a phenomenon, which caught the attention of Moses Michael, coach at Life Christian Academy in Florida.
In January 2021 he obtained a scholarship that took him to the United States to continue fulfilling his dream: to play basketball.
And at the moment there are analysts who understand that the Dominican can play in Division 1 universities in the United States, since there are schools showing interest in him.
“I want people to see me as a great player, talented like many. Not because of my disability”Concludes Kikimita, who awaits him a great future and we will have to wait just a little longer to experience it with him.
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