The 2025 Sanford Children’s Hospital Ambassador has never had the opportunity to stray far from the medical realities that have followed him around.
Much of Emmett Zorr’s life has included cancer, but he is free of it now. There are major surgeries remaining as doctors continue rebuilding him, but those interruptions so far have led to better health and a better life.
In between these complex procedures and painstaking recoveries, Emmett keeps playing basketball, he keeps riding his motorcycle, he keeps hitting golf balls.
Most impressively, he keeps being Emmett, a kid who inspires those close to him, as well as those from a wider circle who meet him for the first time and then never forget him.
His parents, Chad Zorr and Tina Woltman, can tell dozens of stories about their son Emmett and his challenges and making memorable impressions. They include world-renowned surgeons and high school basketball players and hospital security staff. They all like Emmett.
“For the last 14 years, this kid has never not had something to do with a hospital,” Woltman said. “So he’s been through a lot, but he handles it well.”
‘Getting that first shot’
The Sanford International names a new Sanford Children’s Hospital Ambassador every year. This ambassador represents the Sanford Children’s Hospital at tournament events throughout the year.
Emmett is the ninth Sanford Children’s Hospital Ambassador, joining Jaxon and Jeren Scheff (2018), Avery Hill (2019), Ben Wieman (2020), Cobey DeSchepper (2021), Sam Matheson (2022), Landyn Keiser (2023) and Holly Huntimer (2024).
In the minutes prior to the first round of the tournament in September, Emmett will hit the opening tee shot at Minnehaha Country Club just like his predecessors. He will do so with a distinctive level of enthusiasm because he really likes golf.
When asked what is cool about being the ambassador, he was pretty clear:
“Getting that first shot,” he said.
In his first practice session at Great Shots with Sanford Sports Academy’s Jacob Otta, the club speed was there from the get-go. As this practice session went on, clean contact improved. He looks forward to working with the Sanford staff over the spring and summer to continue to get better.
“I just want to out-drive my brother,” he said.
Emmett’s brother Ace Zorr is a former Harrisburg High School and Dakota Wesleyan basketball player who can hit the ball over the back screen at Great Shots. Matching his efforts will take some doing, but Emmett seems like he is up for the challenge.
As evidence of that, a conversation about preparing for his opening shot went like this:
Interviewer: How much better are you going to be by then?
Emmett: 100 percent.
Interviewer: How far is that ball going to go?
Emmett: 200 yards maybe.
Interviewer: Maybe 220?
Emmett: 220, 200 … thereabouts.
Call it confidence – with just the right touch of humility.
Challenging start, then more challenges
Emmett was born prematurely – just 24 weeks old at less than two pounds – then he spent his first 166 days in the NICU. When he was able to go home, he was on an oxygen monitor for months afterward.
At 3-and-a-half years old, he bumped his eye. When the swelling didn’t go away, his parents took him to the doctor for tests and discovered their son had rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that forms in muscle tissue. Surgery and treatment followed.
“A year and a half later, he was diagnosed with the same type of cancer,” Woltman said. “We went through all the treatments and surgeries and everything again.”
As Emmett got older, the persistent treatments and procedures – he had his most recent reconstructive surgery in October of 2024 – became more difficult to deal with. There were games to be played, right? Why did he have to do this when he wanted to be outside?
“But through and through, he handles it pretty well,” his mom said.
At that point, Emmett added an emphatic “Yeah!” to his mother’s sentence with the camera rolling. He could have been watching a game and cheering from the stands for all you could tell.
Sports have been there
Going back to when he was an honorary team captain for the Harrisburg boys basketball team, Emmett has been around sports. He wears Iowa Hawkeyes gear whenever he gets the chance, and Caitlin Clark is his favorite athlete.
“Sports have played a huge role for Emmett,” Woltman said. “He has a big brother who was big into basketball, living in a community that was big into basketball and took him in as an honorary team captain when he was younger.
“He got to be part of the team on the court with the boys. The guys in Harrisburg just treated him like their own little brother and that just took his troubles away. He was having fun, enjoying the attention, shooting hoops with the boys and the coaches.”
Sanford and smiles
Visits to “the castle,” as Emmett’s parents refer to Sanford Children’s, have been part of Emmett’s life since he came home from the NICU as an infant. Familiarity in this case has led to friendships with Sanford Children’s providers and support staff.
There were all those parody farm videos that Emmett would show the child life staff. There was Cal, a security guard who would do his job but also take time to visit Emmett in the oncology department. Through it all, his mom says, his caregivers have been distinctively kind and engaged.
“They look forward to seeing you and we look forward to seeing them,” Woltman said. “You see them out and about, it’s like, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ That kind of a thing. It’s a whole other set of family members that we’ve come to know. … They look forward to his smiles just as much as we look forward to their smiles.”
Zorr, Woltman and Emmett are very familiar with the Sanford International. So, when Mom took the phone call to tell her Emmett was the 2025 ambassador, it was a big deal. As she told Emmett, this is once-in-a-lifetime stuff.
As the ambassador, Emmett will get the opportunity to be a good example of how to make the best of difficult circumstances. It’s definitely once-in-a-lifetime material in that sense, but also something Emmett has done since he was born.
On three different occasions during their son’s life, Zorr and Woltman were planning Emmett’s funeral. Now he is looking forward to improving his golf game over the summer.
“Be strong,” he said when asked how he perseveres.
And what would you tell others dealing with similar challenges?
“Just don’t give up,” he said.
Learn more
- Children’s Hospital Ambassador has ‘try anything’ spirit
- Landyn Keiser named Sanford Children’s Hospital Ambassador
- 2022 Children’s Hospital Ambassador gives back
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Posted In Cancer, Children's, Foundation, Golf, Sanford International, Sanford Sports, Sioux Falls
