Kennith Thomas (L) and his son Kristian who was diagnosed with cancer, leukemia, and down syndrome.)
A father who went viral earlier this year for dancing with his baby boy who spent weeks in the hospital recently announced that his son is no longer battling cancer.
In July, millions of people watched Kennith Thomas of New Jersey dance for his 20-month-old son Kristian as he underwent chemotherapy and treatments. Now, the father and son duo are back stronger than ever after finding out in November, that baby Kristian was cancer-free.
“It was the most glorifying thing you could ever feel,” Thomas told TODAY Parents during an interview. “When your 1-year-old is going through a huge battle, as a parent you want to take their place — you don’t want them to have to suffer.”
At 14 months old Kristian was diagnosed with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL). He spent more than 30 days in the hospital after receiving his first round of chemotherapy.
In the video that Thomas posted to social media over the summer, he and his wife Josilyne learned that their baby boy would finally be able to come home after a whole month of treatments.
“He was going home that day,” said Thomas. “His levels were up and we were going home — it all fell into place, so I put the video out there and it just caught fire.”
In the video, Thomas was dancing to singer Ciara’s song “Level Up” while Kristian clapped and jammed along with his dad. The video instantly went viral and received support from several celebrities like rapper Common, Christopher Reid of Kid ‘N Play and many others, including Ciara herself.
Thomas said he and his family appreciate the array of support he’s received from those online, but he’s more grateful they’ve been able to inspire families across the country. He and Josilyn hope to continue using their large social media following to shine light on pediatric cancer.
“We’ve been given the opportunity to speak life into people and motivate others to never give up and continue the fight no matter what they’re facing,” Thomas said.
Thomas recently shared another video dancing to Kid n Play’s “Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody” song in celebration of Kristian’s cancer-free news.
Christopher Reid congratulated Thomas and his family on the great news and tweeted, “MUSIC + LOVE = CANCER FREE……Much love to @Kennyclutch415 for sharing this beautiful moment with lil’ man man…..if this don’t move you-eff you #BabyBabyBaby #KidnPlay #DancingDad.”
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