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Dad dances to Ciara’s “Level Up” for son with leukemia, gets singer’s attention

Video of a New Jersey father dancing to Ciara’s “Level Up” in front of his young son with leukemia is winning hearts all over the world, including the singer’s. Kenny Thomas was celebrating the release of his 15-month-old son, Kristian, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia over the weekend by taking part in the latest internet dancing craze.

Thomas uploaded the now-viral video on Saturday with the caption: “When you wake up to your sons number LEVELS UP!! And we get to go home for a few days as he is killing CANCER!!”

{“version”:”1.0″,”title”:”When you wake up to your sons number LEVELS UP!! And we get to go home for a few days as he is killing CANCER!! TAG @ciara this song right on time #GODSPLAN #fightkristian #fightcancer #FIGHTLEUKEMIA n#locking #dance #love #son #fatherandson #levelupchallenge”,”author_name”:”kennyclutch_”,”author_url”:”https://www.instagram.com/kennyclutch_”,”author_id”:190725233,”media_id”:”1828466859801124500_190725233″,”provider_name”:”Instagram”,”provider_url”:”https://www.instagram.com”,”type”:”rich”,”width”:658,”height”:null,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”instagram-media” data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BlgBOveBR6U/” data-instgrm-version=”9″ style=” background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px); width:calc(100% – 2px);”&#gt;&#lt;div style=”padding:8px;”&#gt; &#lt;div style=” background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:62.5% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;”&#gt; &#lt;div style=” background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;”&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt; &#lt;p style=” margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;”&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BlgBOveBR6U/” style=” color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;” target=”_blank”&#gt;When you wake up to your sons number LEVELS UP!! And we get to go home for a few days as he is killing CANCER!! TAG @ciara this song right on time #GODSPLAN #fightkristian #fightcancer #FIGHTLEUKEMIA #locking #dance #love #son #fatherandson #levelupchallenge&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt; &#lt;p style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;”&#gt;A post shared by &#lt;a href=”https://www.instagram.com/kennyclutch_/” style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;” target=”_blank”&#gt; Kenny Clutch&#lt;/a&#gt; (@kennyclutch_) on &#lt;time style=” font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;” datetime=”2018-07-21T16:28:45+00:00″&#gt;Jul 21, 2018 at 9:28am PDT&#lt;/time&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async defer src=”//www.instagram.com/embed.js”&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;”,”thumbnail_url”:”https://scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/0f02080f982cc077f765845e72acfe1f/5B5E2A04/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/p640x640/37134648_232581880715371_880001699022897152_n.jpg”,”thumbnail_width”:640,”thumbnail_height”:800}

It shows him dancing inside the hospital in front of his son to Level Up as the boy smiles and claps back. The video garnered over 2.5 million views on Instagram and caught the attention of Ciara, who reposted it on her own page. She commended the proud dad.

“My ❤️ can’t take it watching this proud Father @KennyClutch_ dancing doing the #LevelUpChallenge because his baby’s numbers were up. God is so good! We’re dancing for you too angel! Let’s #LevelUp against Cancer together!”

Ciara had been encouraging fans to upload videos of their own dances to her song. Even celebrities such as Serena Williams and Chris Pratt joined in on the #LevelUp challenge.

The challenge is not just about dance moves. It is also partially based on improving oneself and setting future goals.

{“version”:”1.0″,”title”:”#LevelUp Season baby! My 3 ways I plan to Level Up this year! Tell me your 1-3 ways you plan to Level Up! n#MotivationalMonday”,”author_name”:”ciara”,”author_url”:”https://www.instagram.com/ciara”,”author_id”:27914637,”media_id”:”1829920886535438704_27914637″,”provider_name”:”Instagram”,”provider_url”:”https://www.instagram.com”,”type”:”rich”,”width”:658,”height”:null,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”instagram-media” data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BllL1nZA0Fw/” data-instgrm-version=”9″ style=” background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px); width:calc(100% – 2px);”&#gt;&#lt;div style=”padding:8px;”&#gt; &#lt;div style=” background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;”&#gt; &#lt;div style=” background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;”&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt; &#lt;p style=” margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;”&#gt; &#lt;a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BllL1nZA0Fw/” style=” color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;” target=”_blank”&#gt;#LevelUp Season baby! My 3 ways I plan to Level Up this year! Tell me your 1-3 ways you plan to Level Up! #MotivationalMonday&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt; &#lt;p style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;”&#gt;A post shared by &#lt;a href=”https://www.instagram.com/ciara/” style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;” target=”_blank”&#gt; Ciara&#lt;/a&#gt; (@ciara) on &#lt;time style=” font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;” datetime=”2018-07-23T16:39:59+00:00″&#gt;Jul 23, 2018 at 9:39am PDT&#lt;/time&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async defer src=”//www.instagram.com/embed.js”&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;”,”thumbnail_url”:”https://scontent-sjc3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/920d8e6648e77acea94d563c7181fbc2/5B5DD7AB/t51.2885-15/e15/s640x640/37033582_207862739880153_737976566587326464_n.jpg”,”thumbnail_width”:640,”thumbnail_height”:640}

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