It takes a warrior’s resolve to defeat cancer. When dealing with this terrible illness, adults find it difficult

to go through multiple rounds of therapy; however, Kristian Thomas, in spite of his youth, has overcome cancer.

Recently, a video of 2-year-old Kristian and his father, Kenny Thomas, dancing together went viral.

They were commemorating Kristian’s 11-month cancer-free checkup in addition to having fun.
In June 2018, Kristian’s leukemia diagnosis as a newborn was made. Five rounds of treatment later,

in November 2018, he entered total remission. After that, he had many check-ups, and about a year later, he is still cancer-free!

The fact that Kristian has Down syndrome, also referred to as trisomy 21, from birth adds even more poignancy and uniqueness to this beautiful tale.

This disease is caused by an error that occurs during the process of creating sperm or eggs, in which a spare

copy of chromosome 21—or the entire copy—remains in the germ cell and spreads to all of the cells in the developing baby’s body.

Trisomy 21 causes a variety of abnormalities, including mental impairment and characteristic facial features, and increases the risk of developing leukemia by up to 20 times.

Regretfully, the mortality rate for children with trisomy 21 who develop leukemia is significantly higher than that of the general population.

Positively, compared to the general population, children with trisomy 21 who survive cancer have a significantly lower chance of developing new cancer.