Little Boy With Down Syndrome Is Winning Hearts With His 'Baby Shark' Dance Video

Parents

November 1, 2018

Savannah Black
Savannah Black

A little boy from Alabama is making headlines around the country for adorably getting his groove on in a shark costume. The 1-year-old named Exton Black adores the super-popular children's song "Baby Shark" by Pinkfong, which has been viewed over a billion times on YouTube. And when his mom, Savannah Shayne Black, dressed him up like a shark for Halloween, and put the track on, he couldn't help but do his ridiculously cute dance.

"My son is crazy about the song 'Baby Shark,'" Black tells Parents.com. "We love and hate that song all at once! But it’s his absolute favorite and from the moment it starts to play he dances all the way till the end. So, we had no choice but to make him a baby shark for Halloween."

The internet is loving the clip of Exton so much that it has wracked up 55K views since being posted on Monday, October 29. "I honestly just thought it would be a cute silly video of Exton as a baby shark dancing to 'Baby Shark'!" Black says. "We are totally biased as parents. We think his videos are just the cutest, but we were really tickled and overwhelmed once the video went viral and [by] all the amazing comments/messages we received afterwards! It made this Halloween a little extra sweet for us this year."

Black tells CBS News that her son—who was diagnosed with Down syndrome when he was four years old and was also born with holes in his heart and diagnosed with congenital heart disease—"has a crazy medical history. He is our miracle and such a fighter."

"At three weeks old, Exton went into heart failure, and, at four weeks old, he was not responding to any medicine to help," Black said. She explained that her son had to have open heart surgery. "[Doctors] discovered he has a very significant type of tracheobronchomalacia, which is basically a floppy or collapsed airway. Exton's was 90% collapsed," Black said.

These days, Exton depends on a ventilator. But these challenges haven't halted the family's joie de vivre. "[We] have been living life to the fullest with our miracle child who just so happens to have Down syndrome and be on life support!" his mom said. "He makes this lifestyle easy for us as his family! He is so full of joy and we are so blessed for every second we have with him!"