'I Literally Could Not Live Without Dance'

Tom was born with cystic fibrosis. Dance lets him express himself.

00:03
dancing to me means everything without
00:07
it I’d be in hospital 24/7 my name is
00:14
Tom I’m 16 years old and I’m a dancer
00:17
when I dance I just let go I’m just free
00:21
able to do whatever I want and I just
00:24
feel amazing I really love like being
00:28
able to express myself in multiple
00:30
different ways the artistry and it the
00:33
creativity being able to put your
00:35
personal twist on certain things I’m
00:39
inspired by like all the hardships in my
00:42
life and just going you know what life’s
00:44
not that bad
00:44
like it may be horrible some bits but
00:46
we’ve just got to look at the bigger
00:47
picture
00:48
[Music]
00:53
I have a condition called cystic
00:55
fibrosis which means my lungs are
00:57
covered in the thick tar like Mekas and
01:00
my body’s not able to digest fats
01:03
properly and I have to take literally
01:05
hundreds of meds a day just to maintain
01:07
my body dancing for me got quite serious
01:15
very quickly so I was doing multiple
01:18
hours a day and my parents thought I was
01:21
gonna pass out the real worry that they
01:24
had was that I was gonna injure myself
01:27
and then cause serious damage to my
01:28
lungs and then I’m in hospital I
01:32
wouldn’t even say I worried when he
01:34
started dancing I panicked
01:35
it’s hours and hours of training he had
01:38
smaller lung capacity he had problems
01:41
with digestion and he was getting sick a
01:44
lot and I still panic and I still worry
01:47
but I shouldn’t because he loves it and
01:50
he’s doing really well
01:51
[Music]
01:54
dance is impact in my life in a way that
01:58
I’ve never thought anything Woods I’m a
02:00
lot more healthy now than solutions the
02:03
mucus in the lungs so it’s easier to
02:05
breathe helps with digestion it just
02:09
really helps my life drop all my younger
02:13
childhood I felt like I couldn’t really
02:14
do much because this condition was like
02:16
chaining and pulling me back but as soon
02:19
as I discovered dance it’s like I grew a
02:21
new set of wings and I was just able to
02:22
fly just fly away when I dance I just
02:31
feel complete bliss I just feel so free
02:35
and able to do whatever I want when I
02:37
see my boy dancing I feel proud
02:40
emotional I can’t quite believe the boy
02:43
that we had in that hospital 18 months
02:46
is dancing on the stage and competing
02:49
with the best of them it’s an incredibly
02:52
brilliant feeling
02:55
[Applause]
02:57
I tell you without dance my life would
02:59
be so much different it’ll be in a
03:03
hospital bed where I’m getting fed from
03:06
a tube from the stomach I literally
03:10
couldn’t live without dance