Identical twins suffer same cancer symptoms even though only one has the disease
A pair of identical twins suffer the exact same cancer symptoms even though only one of them actually has the disease.
The teenage girl has experienced the symptoms since her identical twin was diagnosed in 2017 - despite not having cancer herself.
The pair have since become somewhat of a medical anomaly and people are calling the phenomenon 'bizarre' without a clue as to why the perfectly healthy twin is now suffering the same symptoms as her ill sister.
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Sophie Walker 16, was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour - a type of kidney cancer - back in October of 2017, and subsequently started a four-week course of chemotherapy.
Now five years on from that initial diagnosis, Sophie has gone into remission twice but has since relapsed four times.
However, it's Sophie's twin sister Megan's reaction to the diagnosis that is really baffling medical professionals.
Throughout this time, it seems as if Megan has also been experiencing many of the same symptoms as Sophie.
After Sophie was diagnosed following stomach bug-like cramps, Megan began experiencing similar symptoms including stomach and back pain, paleness and even weight loss.
The twins' mum, Rebecca Walker, from Edinburgh, Scotland, said: "When Sophie was first diagnosed, Megan had all the symptoms. People comment on how ill she looks all the time - she’s even paler than her sister.
"Every test under the sun has been done on her, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. It’s so bizarre."
After an initial 27 weeks of chemotherapy, Sophie went into remission until January 2020 - when a routine MRI showed 'something worrying' on her spine.
A consultant told Rebecca that her daughter's initial biopsy had seeded on her spine - explaining that the needle inserted into Sophie’s initial tumour had dislodged and spread cancer cells.
Following an intensive three-week course of radiotherapy, a relapse back in December 2021 and another remission in December 2022, health professionals informed Sophie just three months ago that she’d once again relapsed.
Recalling the devastating moment, Rebecca said: "We went to get Sophie checked out one day, and were told by the consultant she couldn’t feel anything there.
"But by the following day, we were called back in. All the consultant could say was that the results were ‘not good’ - and she started to cry."
Upon hearing the news, Sophie just 'broke down for the first time in six years'.
The mother was told to 'take [Sophie] away' and 'make memories while she's well enough'.
Since that heartbreaking consultation, Sophie has been told she'll be able to have the tumour on her spine operated on by a team of oncologists, paediatric surgeons and plastic surgeons.
Despite this 'little bit of hope', Sophie is still struggling 'deeply' with health anxiety and depression and her sister Megan has been feeling the 'exact same way'.
"Megan just can’t settle if Sophie isn’t there," Rebecca explained. "We have a big family and everyone looks out for each other, but Megan has been struggling hugely."
She added that Megan 'will stay in hospital by Sophie’s side, sometimes until 3am' to keep her twin company.
According to the mum, 'nothing showed up' when Megan volunteered to undergo a 'head-to-toe' MRI scan.
Rebecca confirmed: "There’s absolutely nothing wrong with her.
"Consultants are telling me it’s just a 'twin thing' - which I find totally bizarre. I’ve never heard of identical twins getting sick at the same time, when one isn’t even ill herself."
The Walker family are currently running a GoFundMe to raise funds for proton therapy in New York.
Rhiannon Ingle