09/25/2026
Scarlett Redmon, a dance-loving little girl, woke her parents one night telling them she was in pain. Comforted by her parents, Amber and Justin, and given Tylenol, Scarlett went back to sleep.
Amber was her teacher at school and noticed the next day that Scarlett couldn’t seem to walk, sit or even just stand still without hurting. In the end, her parents took her to the emergency room to get some help and hopefully some answers.
“They were trying some pretty heavy-duty medicines, even morphine, but they weren’t really able to control Scarlett’s pain,” said Amber. “They decided to keep her in the hospital overnight until they could give her an MRI to try to figure out what was causing it.”
The MRI showed a buildup of fluid on her hip, and she was sent into surgery right away to remove it. Then, just as the problems with her hip began to resolve, Scarlett began to have fluid buildup in one shoulder and new pain. After a full-body MRI and a bone marrow biopsy, the teams of physicians had their answer: Scarlett Redmon had cancer. She was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“Scarlett was diagnosed in September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month,” said Amber. “On top of that, she was actually diagnosed on September 4th which is World Leukemia Day.”
Scarlett remained hospitalized for a week after receiving her diagnosis while her port was placed and her doctors monitored how she did with her initial round of treatments. She went home from the hospital on her 6th birthday.
Amber was grateful to Scarlett’s entire care team, from pediatric hematology oncology specialists Anna Hoppmann, MD, Stuart Cramer, MD and Shilpa Shivakumar, MD to the nurses as well as the Child Life team for their kindness and gentleness with Scarlett.
Scarlett is currently in her final phase of treatment, a year after her diagnosis. Scarlett is doing so well, in fact, that she was able to attend CAMP KEMO, a Prisma Health camp experience for medically complex children facing cancer and other disorders that allows them to have fun and just be kids without risking their health.
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