Amar’e Stoudemire was sitting at home reading an article in ESPN Magazine when he stumbled across the story of a young Senegalese student who was injured and unable to play basketball.  The Phoenix Suns star wanted to help.

Amar’e decided to take a trip Senegal to write about basketball in Africa and find the young student he had read about in the magazine. El Hadji Amadou Bar Ndieguene, nicknamed “Barro,” was born in 1990. He was one of the top students and basketball stars at his academy. When Amar’e arrived he found Barro walking with a limp and carrying a French-English dictionary on the campus of SEED, the continent’s first basketball academy.  Amar’e was especially moved by the fact that Barro was such an intelligent, hard-working young man. Tragically, medical doctors in Senegal were unable to fully diagnose or correct the injury in his left foot, leaving him unable to play basketball.

Amar’e explained, “I know what it’s like to be injured and not being able to play the game, and it is very frustrating. When I read the story about Barro, I felt that we had something in common, except I have the means to heal myself.  That is why I wanted to help make Barro’s dreams of playing basketball, perhaps even in the NBA one day, a reality.”

Kevin Varner of First Surgical Partners volunteered to perform the surgery on 16 year old Barro for free. Dr. Varner is the team physician for the Houston Rockets and arguably one of the best foot/ankle surgeons in the nation.  The surgery was performed over the weekend in Houston where Barro stayed for a two-week rehab before returning home. Amar’e personally paid for the $2,500 roundtrip ticket.

Amar’e Stoudemire’s generosity gave Barro the opportunity to make his dream of coming to US on a basketball scholarship a possibility.