CINCINNATI — Robert White is standing on the track at College Hill's rec center. He leans on a railing overlooking the gymnasium below him. Outside, the parking lot is full. In the gym, dozens of people are dancing. White can't help but dance, too.
First, he taps his feet. Then, his neck seems to roll from one shoulder to the other. Then, he does it again. And again.
“No matter where I am,” White said, “I’m always dancing.”
Sometimes, he says he wakes up at 3 a.m., gets out of bed and starts dancing. All because he thought of a new step for class.
“It’s just a part of who I am,” White said.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he dances here. But the rest of the week, White spends almost four hours a day in dialysis treatment.
See Robert White in action in the video below:
“You have to take control of your own health, and there was a time when I did not,” White said. “I was in denial. And unfortunately, it caused me to lose sight in my right eye.”
The Forest Park man used to weigh close to 300 pounds. He danced his way down to 175. But now, he’s fighting another battle: kidney failure.
The chronic disease affects more than one in seven adults in this country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And most of those people don't know they have it.
It’s why White is dancing. To try to stay healthy enough to get onto a transplant list. Or find a donor.
“I love dancing with Robert,” said Jenise Brassell, who runs the Metro Cincinnati Dance Association. “You know if you’re on the floor and you’re next to Robert, he's going help you learn that dance.”
Brassell said White brightens any room he walks into. And now, he’s turned years of dancing into teaching several classes a week. Even as he tries to find a kidney donor to save his life.
“We love him,” Brassell said. “I wish I had 10 more Roberts.”
As the class dances, White smiles. Others laugh.
“Dancing means everything to me,” White said in between songs. “It gives me joy.”
Now more than ever.
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