The energetic 8-year-old with long hair, a bright smile, and quick feet, was always moving — until July 2025 changed everything.
Put a camera on Royce Dinkins, and you’ll get a performance. The energetic 8-year-old with long hair, a bright smile and quick feet was always moving — until July 2025 changed everything.
“Yeah, definitely the day that changed… (everything). Yeah. Changed a lot,” said his mother Joryal Hudson.
Royce was diagnosed with leukemia just months after his family moved to Texas.
“I got leukemia,” Royce told WFAA while sitting on top of his bed playing with Hot Wheels cars.
“At the time we didn’t which one he had. We just knew it was leukemia and [prepare] for possibly for the worst,” his father Octavias Dinkins said.
The disease — and the grueling chemotherapy that followed — took Royce’s hair, his energy and consumed his family’s schedules.
“That was my first born. The one who gave me the title of being a mother. Who taught me how to be a mother,” Hudson said.
After 70 treatments over several months, Royce reached a milestone at Cook Children’s Medical Center — the chance to ring the bell marking the end of treatment.
“I’ve seen it a lot. At least 30 or 40 times,” Dinkins said, referring to the now viral video of his son dancing his way to ring the bell.
But Royce didn’t just walk out of the hospital — he danced out. Instead of the typical Disney song, he chose his favorite rap track: a song by Louisiana rapper Headband.
“He’s not a Disney kid. He’s not a Disney kid,” Hudson said. “My heart is full again now. All the weight is off my shoulders; it’s off his shoulders. Dad is like, ‘we’re getting somewhere.’”
That “somewhere” is remission. Doctors say the next year will be critical, but there is hope Royce can return to third grade in the fall.
“What do you wanna say to cancer? Get out of me,” Royce said.
After everything cancer has taken, Royce now wants what any 8-year-old does: to play outside, have fun — and inspire others.
“The storm don’t last. The storm does not last too long. And if it does the rainbow, the best rainbow you will ever see at the end.”