Eight-year-old Royce Dinkins spent six long weeks at the hospital recovering from a bone marrow transplant and months of chemotherapy.
The Fort Worth second-grader missed celebrating his sister’s third birthday, playing basketball with his brother and going on his first school field trip to the zoo.
When he could finally check out of Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth last month, Royce knew he wanted to go big. Like, really big. He decided to dance his way out.
A 45-second clip shows Royce grooving down the hospital hallway to ring the bell, a ritual for patients to mark the end of cancer treatments, as hospital staff cheered and tossed confetti. Royce even threw in a surprise cartwheel.
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“He wanted to give his nurses a heart attack,” joked his mother, Joryal Hudson.
The video has been viewed tens of thousands of times on social media and even captured the attention of Good Morning America, who shared Royce’s story.
Royce was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2025, after complaining that he was getting tired while playing. The family had recently moved to Fort Worth from California, and his parents thought he was just struggling to adapt to the Texas heat.
But Royce insisted something was wrong and told his mom he needed to see a doctor. Not long after, doctors at Cook Children’s told him he had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, type B. Royce immediately began chemotherapy and soon lost the long dreadlocks he had been so proud of. This February, he received bone marrow from his father.
Royce Dinkins poses with his parents and siblings at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth. (Joryal Hudson)
The treatments took their toll, and Royce had to work with a physical therapist twice a week to relearn how to walk and even begin to eat on his own.
At some point during recovery, Royce decided he wanted to dance when the hospital finally released him. He picked his favorite song, Boo by Louisiana rapper H3adband, which became a breakout hit after going viral on TikTok and sparking a dance challenge.
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“A day does not go by that we don’t hear that song at least 20 times,” his mom said.
Staff at Cook Children’s even joined him in dance practice, stopping by his room to learn the moves and lyrics.
“He had everyone dancing,” Hudson said. “The nurses loved him.”
As his hospital stay neared the end, his mom wondered if Royce would go through with the dance. He’s usually pretty shy, she said. He was adamant, though.
On his last day at the hospital, Royce wore a black Stranger Things T-shirt in honor of one of his favorite shows and red track pants. He loved his long dreads, but it turns out he really loves his newly bald head, too.
Royce gave a shy smile, then danced down the hallway and rang the bell as hard as he could. He was going home.
Royce Dinkins underwent months of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. (Joryal Hudson)