Identical twins, 16, suffer cancer symptoms at same time - but only one has the disease

A teenage girl “bizarrely” started suffering from cancer symptoms when her twin sister was diagnosed, despite not having the disease herself.

Sophie Walker, 16, was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour, which is a type of kidney cancer, on 25 October 2017, and has been battling the disease since she was just ten years old.

She underwent a four-week course of chemotherapy shortly after her initial diagnosis but has gone into remission twice in the five years since, and relapsed four times.

Sophie was diagnosed after suffering from stomach bug-like cramps and her twin sister Megan began experiencing many of the symptoms at exactly the same time, even though she does not have cancer.

Symptoms included stomach and back pain, paleness and weight loss, but despite “every test under the sun”, doctors could not find anything to be wrong with Megan.

Rebecca Walker, mum to the teenage girls, from Edinburgh, explained: “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.”

Sophie went into remission in January 2020 after an initial 27 weeks of chemotherapy when a routine MRI scan showed “something worrying” on her spine.

Consultants informed Sophie’s mum that her initial biopsy had seeded on her spine, meaning the needle inserted into her initial tumour had dislodged, spreading cancer cells.

The 16-year-old underwent a three-week radiotherapy course, before relapsing in December 2021 and going into remission in December 2022. But sadly, Sophie was informed three months ago that she had relapsed yet again.

Rebecca explained: “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. Sophie saw the look on her face and just broke down, for the first time in six years.”

Sophie’s dad, Jamie Walker, 44, left the room with her to try to console her while Rebecca stayed with the consultant to ask further questions. She was told to take Sophie away to “make memories, while she’s well enough.”

Since receiving the devastating news, the consultant has told Sophie that the tumour on her spine can be operated on, but despite this “little bit of hope”, the teenager is still “deeply” struggling with health anxiety and depression - and her twin Megan has been feeling the “exact same way”.

The twins have eight siblings - James, 20, Emily, 19, Ruthie, 17, Daniel, 13, Olivia, 11, Emma, nine, Nathan, eight and eight-month old Evan - but Rebecca said Megan “can’t settle” if Sophie is not there and has been “struggling hugely”.

She said: “While the older ones are looking after the younger ones in the house, Megan will stay in hospital by Sophie’s side, sometimes until 3am. She won’t leave her until she says, ‘I’m tired, I want to go to sleep.

“All throughout Covid, she wasn’t allowed to see Sophie as Jamie and I were her two named visitors. She couldn’t cope. As soon as those restrictions were slightly lifted, Megan wanted to see Sophie again.”

Following Sophie’s relapse in January, Megan volunteered to have a ‘head-to-toe’ MRI scan after experiencing many of the same symptoms as her sister, but doctors were unable to find anything.

Rebecca said: “Nothing showed up, 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.”

Rebecca added that the NHS cannot offer much hope for Sophie as there aren’t any promising clinical trials available at the moment, meaning she would need to have palliative chemotherapy “to buy time”, although this would not give her much quality of life.

In a bid to get treatment for Sophie, the Walker family have set up a GoFundMe page to try and raise funds for her to receive proton therapy in New York, following surgery in Scotland - a move they say is her “final chance”.

The fundraiser has already raised more than £21,500 towards a goal of £350,000, which the family estimates will cover the costs.

Rebecca said: “We have reached out to a few different medical facilities around the world and have been told of a very promising procedure that would still be curative for Sophie. We haven’t been given a final figure so have set our target at their ball park figure until we finalise the costs.

“This is the final chance for our daughter’s life and we are absolutely at everyone’s mercy, please if you can help it will be greatly appreciated.”