“God’s blessing”

With high school graduation happening this Sunday, Sacred Heart School Seniors and twins Sophie and Mary Margaret Gil can’t help but be reminded of the difficulties they faced that came in the form of cancer throughout their high school days. The outcome of this journey though, is one that both girls today call “God’s blessing.”
At the age of 15, after months of being sick, Sophie, who is the daughter of Eric and Nicole Gil, was diagnosed with a Pineal Blastoma brain tumor in the center of her brain that after being tested was determined to be cancerous.
“On September 6th”, Sophie recalls, “my mom and dad sat both me and Mary Margaret down to tell us that the doctor had called and said that I had an abnormality on my brain, but that was it. No one knew anything else.”
While both girls can recall crying when they received this devastating news, they can also remember not wanting to waste anytime being down.
Sophie said, “My mom called one of her best friends that is a doctor, and they told us to go to Texas Children’s Hospital, and that’s what we did. We left that day and made it to the hospital by midnight.”
Texas Children’s Hospital is where Sophie spent the next nine months of her life undergoing surgery, six weeks of proton radiation therapy, and five months of chemotherapy.
Sophie can recall the many treatments she sat through, and while she says they were frustrating, she is very grateful for that frustration.
“There are only five places you can receive the proton radiation therapy in the United States. That was like another God thing that Texas Children had that machine,” said Sophie. “There was only one machine that every patient had to share, which sometimes could take hours. And while I was waiting, a halo was screwed into my head, and that was screwed to a table so that I couldn’t move. It was hard, but that was one of those moments that I just would remind myself that it could always be worse.”
Mary Margaret spent the first two weeks in Texas at her sister’s bedside, but she then had to return home for the first time without her best friend and the person that she always did everything with.
“I had never been away from my sister for that long, and it was scary,” said Mary Margaret. “We went to school together. We played sports together. We did everything together. But, in the moment that we found out Sophie had a brain tumor, everything changed. I had to be home to help my dad take care of my brother Samuel, who was 12 at the time.”
While trying to help dad keep things in order back at home, Mary Margaret also had to try and maintain her school grades.
“Things at home were difficult, because I didn’t have mom there and dad was going and coming to and from the hospital. But through all of that, I still managed to play sports and have all A’s and B’s in my classes,” said Mary Margaret. “I look back now and ask, how did we even do it.”
Sophie then answered, “We just did it. There were downs along the way, but I just continued telling myself that tomorrow would be a better day. And I think that’s what we all just kept trying to remind ourselves; tomorrow would be better.”
Sophie also finished her sophomore year with all A’s and B’s, but it wasn’t easy. She received school work while in Texas, but due to the exhaustion she felt, it was hard for her to keep up.
When Sophie finally finished all of her treatments, she was able to come home on May 6, 2014 and begin working to finish all of her schoolwork before the next school year began.
“Without my sister and the teachers and principals at that time, there would have been no way that I could have finished all of my work before my junior year began,” said Sophie. “But everyone helped, and I finished with A’s and B’s.
Now in remission for two years, Sophie says things have changed for her, and although she doesn’t have to undergo treatments anymore, there are affects from the cancer that she still has to deal with today.
“A lot of people think that everything I encountered ended once I came home, but that’s not the case,” said Sophie. “I live with side effects from the brain tumor everyday, which has been a big change for me. I take medicine everyday for cortisol deficiency and hypo-thyroidism, and I take a shot for energy because I no longer have growth hormones. But, even though I face these challenges I have realized there is no reason to be bitter, because things could have been so worse. I am alive, and that’s what matters.”
Mary Margaret then added, “My sister also has a much weaker immune system than most people because of the cancer. People just don’t understand all of this, because they have never been through it. But that is why my sister is a part of a study. We want to make people aware of side effects. If one person can be helped, then this has all been worth it.”
Sophie is now preparing to graduate high school and then continue her education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with her sister.
Mary Margaret intends on majoring in Accounting, while Sophie’s experience has led her to chose to pursue a career in Nursing.
Mary Margaret said, “Sophie always knew that she wanted to work in the medical field, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do specifically.”
Sophie then said, “In the hospital it was the nurses that we saw everyday. They understood what we were going through, so they always made sure to have a smile on their face for us. They were caring, loving, and happy for us when we would get good news; like a hero. That’s when I realized all I want to do is be somebody’s hero like my nurses were for me.”