MI youngster rings the bell after ending cancer treatment

Published 7:30 am Monday, October 27, 2025

Ten-year-old Emerson Vivion said he was nervous while standing in front of the bell outside the Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center on Oct. 16.

“It’s been two years that I’ve been waiting for this,” Emerson added about his anxiety on that day.

The young Mercer Islander was excited as well to be surrounded by family members, his care team, former Seahawks player Lofa Tatupu and others as time for the bell-ringing neared to signify the completion of his cancer treatment at Seattle Children’s.

Sporting a black T-shirt that read, “Fought like hell to ring the bell!” Emerson got the job done and high-fived Tatupu.

It felt good to ring the bell, said Emerson, who celebrated afterward with cupcakes and sparkling cider as he was joined by family members donning red T-shirts emblazoned with a bell and the message “No More Chemo! Emerson is our hero!” on the front.

Emerson began treatment for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia at Seattle Children’s on May 17, 2023, and finished his chemo on Oct. 6 of this year.

“We just wanted him to feel like this was a huge deal for him,” said Emerson’s mother, Erin, of the emotional experience for everyone present. “It is an extremely altering experience for a child. He missed most of third grade. He went through so many awful experiences. And the bell is an opportunity to really put some closure and celebrate an ending to it. So it was a good moment.”

When the Reporter visited with Emerson in April, he was in the least intense phase of treatment (long-term maintenance), was taking a chemo pill every day and receiving chemo treatment every three months at Seattle Children’s.

During his treatment, Emerson also took the FDA-approved immunotherapy drug blinatumomab, which Erin said was described as the biggest breakthrough in childhood leukemia treatment in 30 years, according to the previous Reporter article.

Dr. Todd Cooper, section head of Oncology in the Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, said: “Learning that your child has leukemia is something no parent should go through — and no child should have to endure. Emerson went through some very difficult days, yet he stayed strong and is living his best life right now. His care team, including Child Life specialists, nurses, nurse practitioners and multidisciplinary teams, deserves such credit for guiding Emerson and his family through this tough time.”

Regarding blinatumomab, Cooper added that the groundbreaking therapy should improve Emerson’s chances of never having to go through this again.

Seattle Children’s pediatric oncologist Dr. Rachel Rau said that blinatumomab is a unique medicine that works by helping the patient’s own immune system to kill leukemia cells.

“When added to chemotherapy, blinatumomab reduces the likelihood of the leukemia coming back by a whopping 61%, which results in far fewer children ultimately dying of leukemia. It is now included in the therapy of children like Emerson throughout the U.S. and around the world,” she added.

Erin said the knowledgeable Seattle Children’s doctors were willing to go the extra mile and get blinatumomab to as many kids as possible, and she feels it will drastically improve those patients’ outcomes.

“I know that he just as easily could have gotten a different cancer that is not as treatable as his. So all kids, no matter how rare or not, they deserve these options like Emerson was getting and the other kids that come after him,” Erin said.

Thinking back about the moving bell-ringing ceremony where Erin stood alongside her husband, Micah, and their 15-year-old son, Elliot, she said that her sister flew up from California with her husband and 2-year-old daughter to attend the event. Also supporting Emerson at Seattle Children’s that afternoon were Erin’s parents and a dear family friend.

During a break from the Seattle Mariners’ playoff games, bullpen coach Tony Arnerich congratulated Emerson on his milestone via a video message. Seattle Seawolves rugby player Dan Kriel and University of Washington baseball alum Julian Sanders have been cheering Emerson on throughout his treatment and also attended the ceremony, Erin said.

Emerson, who will have follow-up visits to monitor his blood counts at Seattle Children’s, is attending Northwood Elementary School and playing trombone in the fifth-grade band program. In the athletics realm, he plays select soccer for Mercer Island FC and swims with Olympic Cascade Aquatics.