These twins not only see double, they also feeling double, too.
A Scottish teenager has been suffering from the symptoms of her identical twin’s cancer, but doctors say there is nothing wrong with her.
In 2017, Sophie Walker, now 16, was diagnosed with what’s known as Wilms tumor, which is a rare kidney cancer that usually affects children, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Her twin sister, Megan, has never had cancer but reportedly has the exact same symptoms as her sister, according to South West News Service.
Before Sophie was diagnosed, she had a range of symptoms including stomach cramps reminiscent of a stomach virus, back pain and weight loss, ailments that her twin also experienced, despite not having a tumour.
“When Sophie was first diagnosed, Megan had all the symptoms. People comment on how sick she looks all the time, she’s even paler than her sister,” the girls’ mother, Rebecca Walker, told SWNS.
“She’s been tested every day under the sun, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her,” he added of Megan. “It’s so strange”.
Since Sophie’s diagnosis, she has gone into remission twice, but has also relapsed four times.
After doctors discovered Sophie’s tumor, she underwent 27 weeks of chemotherapy.
She was in remission until January 2020, when they found “something worrisome” in her spine during an MRI.
It turned out that when specialists entered her spine to take an initial biopsy, the needle had dislodged more cancer cells, which then spread, SWNS reported.
“Consultants tell me it’s just a ‘twin thing,’ which I find totally bizarre.”
He then received three weeks of radiation therapy, but relapsed again in December 2021.
A year later, she was back in remission, but just three months ago, doctors told her she had had another relapse.
“We went looking for Sophie one day and the consultant told us that she couldn’t feel anything there,” her mother said.
“But the next day, they called us again. All the consultant could say was that the results ‘were not good’, and she began to cry.”
It was the first time in six years that Sophie had shed a tear over her illness.
“They told me to take her and make memories while she’s well enough,” Rebecca said.
However, since the news, Sophie has been struggling “profoundly” with both anxiety and depression.
Meanwhile, Megan has been feeling the same way.
After Sophie received the relapse update in January, her twin also offered to have a “head to toe” MRI, but again, no disease was detected.
“The consultants tell me it’s just a ‘twin thing,’ which I find totally bizarre,” her mother said. “I’ve never heard of identical twins getting sick at the same time when one isn’t even sick.”
Their mom said they have a big family of eight children, but Megan and Sophie have a special bond.
Megan hasn’t left her twin’s side since he got sick and will stay with her at the hospital all night, sometimes even until 3 in the morning.
Her mom said Megan won’t leave Sophie until she tells her she wants to go to sleep and is ready for bed.
However, there could be a silver lining, a “little bit of hope,” according to her mother, as a team of oncologists, pediatric surgeons and plastic surgeons will be able to perform surgery on the tumor in her spine.
He was originally supposed to have the tumor operated on in 2020, but due to COVID, the surgery was cancelled.
She is waiting for a surgery date to be confirmed, but in the meantime, the family is raising money on GoFundMe to allow the 16-year-old to receive proton therapy in New York.
His goal is £350,000, which equates to around $433,139.
“We reached out to a few different medical facilities around the world and they informed us of a very promising procedure that would still be curative for Sophie,” Rebecca wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“We haven’t been given a final figure, so we have to set our target at their ballpark figure until we finalize costs.”