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Indiana boy, 5, belts out Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' at great-grandma's memorial service

A 5-year-old boy from Indiana wanted to show his love for his late great grandmother at her memorial service by singing their favorite song, "My Heart Will Go On" by artist Celine Dion.

A five-year-old boy melted hearts as he showed love for his late great-grandmother by singing his favorite song, "My Heart Will Go On," at her celebration of life.

Bentley Cunningham, a preschooler, loves to sing and especially enjoyed doing so with his nana, Diana Ginseng.

Ginseng, Bentley's great-grandmother, had always loved the 1997 Celine Dion love song and would play if for Bentley's mother, Stormy Bonds, when she was little, Bonds told Fox News Digital.

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Ginseng was like a second mother to young Bentley and the two had a very special relationship, Bonds added.

When Bentley first heard "My Heart Will Go On" — or "The Titanic Song," as he calls it — he could not stop singing it, Bonds explained.

"[He] and Nana would just be sitting on the couch singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ to each other," she said.

After Ginseng died of natural causes on Jan. 12, Bentley continued to sing the song in her memory and even attributed it to her.

He would say the song "sounds like the voice of an angel" — and since Ginseng died. she was that angel singing the song with him, he said.

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"My nana is singing this song in heaven right now, and she is such a good singer," Julie Bonds, Bentley's grandmother, told Fox News Digital.

While everyone was preparing for Nana's celebration of life to take place in Indianapolis on Jan. 26, the stress started to overwhelm the family, but Bentley's singing around the house helped lighten the mood.

Bentley even agreed to sing the song at the memorial event, mom Stormy Bonds said.

"Once we got [to the celebration], he was so excited. I took him up on the stage just to see if he really wanted to do it and stand in front of everyone and I couldn't get him down," she added. (SEE THE VIDEO at the top of this article.)

Bentley was joined by his mom, Bonds, on stage, and they eagerly awaited his turn.

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"He got up there and sang his little heart out," Bonds said.

When he got off the stage he had the biggest smile and said to the crowd, "'Thank you, thank you very much,'" Bonds said.

Bentley knew every word to the song, which has proved to be an amazing accomplishment for the 5-year-old with septo-optic dysplasia. It's a disorder of early brain and eye development, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

He was diagnosed at birth after being transferred to Riley Children's Health in Indianapolis, Bonds said.

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Bentley has all three features of septo-optic dysplasia. Bonds described those as the following: "His pituitary gland is not connected to the body, so he is not getting the hormones he needs to grow. His corpus callosum is very small, leading to some developmental delays, and his optic nerves are very small, meaning he is completely blind in his right eye and has low vision in his left."

Bonds said that in spite of Bentley's diagnosis, her son has defied the odds.

"Every milestone that Bentley hit was so much more than if it was a normal kid," Bonds said

"They told us he wasn't going to walk, or talk or crawl. Bentley proved them wrong, so every little thing he did was just amazing," she added.

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Stormy and Julie Bonds said they have been amazed by the comments they received since they posted the video to TikTok.

"We shared it on our pages because it touched us, and we wanted to touch others in the same way," Julie Bonds shared.

"It has been really therapeutic because most people are very sweet on what they are saying," she added.

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Photos copyright by Jay Graham Photographer
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