Columbus, OH,
02
August
2021
|
18:07 PM
Europe/Amsterdam

NBC4: OhioHealth Hospice Grants Ballroom Dance Wish To Patient

When you reach 99 years old, you have seen and experienced so much. But for Virginia Bonsecour, she wanted to go back to the days of big band and ballroom dancing.

Bonsecour is a patient with OhioHealth Hospice, and they have had a lot of time to get to know her, and the things she's loved for decades.

“The job, it is difficult, it’s challenging at times, but at the same time, it’s so rewarding, and I think what I find is that it’s truly an honor to sit in front of a patient when they begin to tell their story,” Teresa Neill-Green of OhioHealth Hospice said.

And Virginia's story included a very big love of dancing.

“I started as a little girl, dancing with my father,” Bonsecour said to NBC4.

That memory hasn't faded as the years have gone on.

“He was so tall and handsome and smooth, he was just wonderful,” Bonsecour told NBC4.

So the OhioHealth team got to work on seeing just how they could take that love for dancing and make it happen again. First thing to ask, what would Virginia like?

“If you had a bucket list, what would be on your bucket list, and she said, ‘I would love to do ballroom dancing one more time,’” said Neill-Green to NBC4.

That was all the team needed.  They started asking around to see if someone would be willing to open their ballroom for Virginia one last time.  Crystal Ballroom on E. Wilson Bridge Road said yes.

The story of Virginia watching her father dance and her love for dancing was a story Bonsecour’s daughter, Mary Williamson, had never heard.

“That’s what’s kind of special about this because hospice sits there and talks to her about her life and I find out things that I never knew, that she used to dance in the living room with her father,” said Mary.

And then the time came. In a beautiful dress, and hair done perfectly, it was time for Virginia to get on the dance floor, again at 99 years old!

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I hope I don’t make a fool of myself…haha.”

“I just want her to feel like she’s going back in time,” Williamson said. “The music, the dancers, she loved watching dancers on tv.”

And on Saturday, the dancers took her for a twirl under the crystal ball.

“I think it’s wonderful that they do this because I would never have an opportunity otherwise,” Bonsecour said.

If you would like to watch the video and story from NBC4 click on the logo below.