Girl who had her twin’s cancer symptoms
SISTERS’ BOND BAFFLES EXPERTS
Bliss in a babygrow some ways. Megan keeps asking me to cut her hair short so she can be more like Sophie again.”
The weeks following the diagnosis crippled the family.
Self-employed Jamie, 39, gave up work to help care for Sophie and has lost his plumber’s shop as a result. Rebecca, 37, adds: “Sophie was so ill. She was on two types of morphine for the pain. She would get terrible fevers.
“It’s awful, you feel helpless. We always knew with nine kids the odds were stacked against us for Sophie, parents & eight siblings
something to go wrong. We we were doing OK until this.”
In December Sophie had a sevenhour operation to remove the tumour and her left kidney.
She will have chemotherapy until June and doctors remain optimistic – as treatment is successful in 85% of childhood cases.
However, with Wilms tumours, there is always a chance the cancer can return, so Sophie will be watched closely for five years and then undergo lifelong checks.
She will have the support of Megan and her seven other siblings – James, 15, Emily, 14, Lucy, 12, Daniel, eight, Olivia, six, Ella, four, and Nathan, three. Rebecca said: “We are so thankful for Sophie’s treatment and Megan & Sophie are inseparable and illness showed how the pair share a unique bond Megan willing Sophie better beyond grateful that it looks likes she’s going to fully recover.
“The chemo is still hard. She is so weak, can’t eat and has to be fed through a tube in her nose.
DIAGNOSIS
“When Sophie got her diagnosis it devastated us all – but Megan in particular. They have always been inseparable. Sophie is boisterous and Megan is more thoughtful.
“We call Megan the politician of the family. Now she wants to be with Sophie more than ever.”
Rebecca also spoke about the girls’ telepathic bond – finishing each other’s sentences, having matching tastes and getting identical school grades. And one expert suggests that Their frst day at nursery, aged three
Megan had a stack of tests, then out of the blue doctors found Sophie had a tumour MUM REBECCA ON HOW ONE TWIN SENT ‘ILLNESS’ SIGNAL
could explain this particular story. Helen Turier, of the Twins and Multiple Births Association, said: “It can be common that one becomes the ‘caretaker twin’ and perhaps Megan exhibited the symptoms Sophie was feeling.”
Rebecca says both girls have dropped from 40kg to an identical 35kg. Megan is starting therapy to help her deal with what has happened and Rebecca added: “We are just staying positive. All we want is for Sophie and Megan – all of our kids – to live long, happy, healthy lives.”
scoops@sundaymirror.co.uk Rebecca’s sister has started a fundraising page to help the family. See justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ victoria-leask to donate.