The family of a teen with cancer whose twin sister had 'phantom symptoms' is raising £350,000 so she can access life-saving treatment abroad.
In October 2017, Sophie Walker was diagnosed with Wilms tumour, a type of kidney cancer.
At the time her twin sister Megan suffered from similar symptoms, including back pain in the same location as Sophie's tumour, despite not having the disease herself.
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Sophie has been given the all-clear three times but each time the cancer has returned.
The NHS has said it can't offer any more treatments to the 17-year-old and there are no clinical trials she can currently access.
As a result her mum and dad Rebecca and Jamie, along with her nine siblings, have launched a fundraiser in the hopes of raising the £350,000 needed to access ground-breaking treatment abroad.
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They plan to take Sophie to Germany for trans arterial chemoembolisation (TACE) treatment which would shrink the tumours, and then travel to the US for immunotherapy.
This treatment applies chemotherapy directly to tumours via blood vessels and Sophie has been to Germany for it before, but will have to make multiple trips for the procedure to be effective.
Edinburgh residents Rebecca and Jamie said: "Looking at Sophie and Megan, they’re so close, they’re almost in-sync - it’s like one person split into two people.
"How would Megan ever have a life without Sophie? We’re not just worried about Sophie but about Megan as well.
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"The treatment in Germany costs £4,000 per tumour so for both tumours plus expenses that’s £10,000 per month – then her high-dose vitamin C is £2,000, so we’re looking at £13k per month just on treatments.
"We've got enough to go back to Germany maybe one more time, it worries me that we might not be able to raise the funds."
In the past seven years Sophie has tried all options the NHS can provide and has been told there's nothing more they can do.
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If the TACE treatment can reduce the size of Sophie's tumours so she can safely fly then her family are hoping to take her to California for immunotherapy treatment.
Mum Rebecca said she can feel her daughter's 'back tumour has shrunk down a lot' since Sophie received treatment in Germany.
The family also previously sent a sample of one of her tumours to Canada so it could be tested to see which medications and chemotherapies might be effective.
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Meanwhile, Sophie and her friends visited Disneyland Paris in January and her mum spoke about how nice it was to see her daughter get to 'be a normal teenager'.
“In Disneyland she was like any average 17-year-old, she’s a big Star Wars fan and bought lightsabers," she said.
“She got to be a normal teenager – it was so nice to just watch her being normal."
Sophie's treatment fundraiser is aiming to raise £350,000, with that being the 'ballpark figure' they were given, and the family's GoFundMe can be found and donated to here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Joe Harker