Perhaps the worst thing a parent could hear is the diagnosis from a medical doctor that their child is suffering from a life-threatening and perhaps a debilitating disease. In our anguish, we may ask ourselves why God has chosen the most vulnerable and innocent within our society to suffer, while sparing others who may have committed awful deeds.
That question can be best illustrated within scripture, according to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Those words somehow resonated with New Jersey native Kennith Thomas when he discovered his infant son had a rare blood disorder sometimes associated with Down syndrome.
“We took a test, where there was a 76% chance that Kristian (infant’s name), would be trisomy 21, which is Down Syndrome,” Thomas said. “I was just happy at the fact that Kristian was just here. I knew he was going to change people’s lives off the bat and he already changed ours the second he came out.”
Doctors however were concerned that Kristian also had low platelet levels within his bloodstream, which is known to cause Leukemia, a form of cancer within the blood.
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In the summer of 2018, the Thomas family received the worst news possible; Kristian was diagnosed with Leukemia.
Kenny and his wife, Josilyne, were devastated. Their only recourse was their faith in God, along with a positive sunny-side outlook, that had served Kenny well during difficult times.
In an effort to add some hope into their family crisis, Kenny, a longtime dancer and owner of a popular dance studio in New Jersey, started dancing for Kristian.
Every day, both father and son would dance, even during those stressful times within the hospital. They danced, setting a positive mood for the entire family, along with hospital staff who also enjoyed witnessing the close bond between the two.
The talented dad began video taping their dance sessions and posting them on social media, hoping to share and spread his message of love for those parents who are also suffering a similar situation, along with making his young son smile.
The father whose dance for his son with leukaemia went viral has won the Level Up Challenge – and got a surprise visit from Ciara.
— Capital Moments (@CapitalMoments) August 6, 2018
Kennith Thomas took part in the viral dance challenge to entertain his son Kristian while he was in hospital.https://t.co/SNm4DWBVHv
“The one thing that was very, very powerful was that we were helping a lot of people that were in that same situation or other situations that were battling their own thing,” he said.
Adding; “I’ve been doing these videos and people have been loving them since the first one that I did. I figure, why not kill two birds with one stone and not be the dad that’s grieving and complaining about his son being in the hospital and his family being in the hospital all day. Why don’t I change things up a little bit and let’s show people how to be positive in this situation.”
“In July, millions of people watched Kennith Thomas of New Jersey dance for his 20-month-old son Kristian as he underwent chemotherapy and… https://t.co/NBrTbTuVKh
— Stephaun E. Wallace, PhD, MS (@imstephaunelite) December 26, 2018
Thomas and his family had resigned themselves to a long and difficult fight battling against the cancer within his son’s body. He recalled thinking to himself that it would take upward of “300 days to possibly up to two years or something like that,” to hopefully force the disease into remission.
However God had another surprise for the Thomas family. After 149 days, Kristian was declared cancer-free by astounded doctors, who admitted they were at a loss for words.
“I guess you would call it a miracle,” he said. “But I believe that was due to us doing our father-son dance routines.”
The videos are a reminder that “when we change the mind, we change the game,” he said.
