One-year-old celebrates the end of cancer treatment with bell-ringing
“My husband and I are so thankful to the entire medical team and staff at Children’s & Women’s for taking such great care of our little girl,” Lauren Mueller said. “They provided so much medical, mental and emotional support throughout the entire process and we are so grateful to everyone who took care of us.”
By Casandra Andrews
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This summer has been full of firsts for Blair Mueller and her family. Diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was just 7 months old, the little girl turned 1 on May 30 at Children’s & Women’s Hospital.
Ten days later, her course of chemotherapy complete and lab work clear, she was discharged from the hospital after spending nearly half of her young life there.
Two weeks after that, her immune system bouncing back, doctors gave the green light for Blair to safely go out in public again. So, on June 23, the little girl with big brown eyes returned to the hospital to reunite with the team of physicians, nurses, and other staff to officially signal the end of her treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
It’s a tradition at the hospital for children to ring a brass bell inside the pediatric infusion center following the end of cancer treatment. And like any good celebration, these bell-ringings often include showers of confetti and bouquets of balloons.
This time was no different. As gold stars fluttered around her, Blair’s parents – Lauren and Luke Mueller, D.O. – held their daughter close and helped her make a joyful noise.
The crowd cheered. Her dad wiped away tears.
"We wanted to celebrate her completing chemo and being in remission," Lauren Mueller said.
On Jan. 1, 2025, Blair was diagnosed with high-risk AML, a blood cancer that is much more common in adults. Within a few days, the little girl started a powerful course of chemotherapy treatments aimed at killing the cancer cells and restoring her health.
“She went into remission after the first round of chemo,” Lauren Mueller said. “They did the first bone biopsy (after the treatment), and it came back clear.”
The intravenous treatments continued from winter into the spring, with every round of lab work showing the same thing: no trace of leukemia.
No stranger to hospitals, Blair’s father is an internal medicine physician who serves as medical director of the USA Health Stanton Road Clinic. He earned a medical degree from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Auburn, then completed his residency in internal medicine at USA Health, the academic health system for the University of South Alabama.
“My husband and I are so thankful to the entire medical team and staff at Children’s & Women’s for taking such great care of our little girl,” Lauren Mueller said. “They provided so much medical, mental and emotional support throughout the entire process, and we are so grateful to everyone who took care of us.”
Children’s & Women’s Hospital treats children with cancer using a multidisciplinary approach that includes board-certified physicians, advanced practice providers, therapists, nurses, and child life specialists, among others, who focus on caring for patients and supporting their families through a journey that can span a few months to several years.
Statistics show that 1 in 260 children and adolescents younger than 20 will be diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. While rare, a pediatric cancer diagnosis is often devastating for families and caregivers.
“She has done extremely well,” said Hamayun Imran, M.D., a pediatric hematologist and oncologist who leads the pediatric oncology division at Children’s & Women’s Hospital. “We were so pleased to provide her with care. I pray and hope she has many years, many more than all of us.”
To mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and recognize the challenging path so many families face, the Mapp Child & Family Life Program at the hospital hosts a private bell-ringing ceremony each September in the outdoor courtyard for pediatric patients who completed cancer treatment in the past 12 months. This year, on Sunday, Sept. 14, a Childhood Cancer Reunion is also planned for anyone who has been part of the pediatric cancer journey at the hospital.
