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MURRAY — Abigail and Natasha Tillotson ride an ever- changing wave of emotions. While getting a push on the swings from their parents, the identical twins are one moment bellowing with laughter, and ready for a meltdown the next.
"They might be a little slower," said their father, Joshua Tillotson, "but that also slows life down for everybody around them. And it helps you to look at what's really important, and you take joy in some of the smaller things."
That emotional roller coaster is not for the girls alone. Joshua and his wife, Kimberly Tillotson, face incredible challenges as well. But the family received an extraordinary gift this past month, mainly from strangers.
"A roller coaster is probably a pretty good way to describe it," Kimberly said.
"But, it's the best roller coaster we've ever been on," Joshua added with a laugh.
Abigail and Natasha were born with Down syndrome in 2008. They are the fifth and sixth of the Tillotsons' seven children, who range from age 2 to 11 years old.
Last February, Joshua and Kimberly raced Abigail to the hospital in the middle of the night when she stopped walking. A few hours later, they were told she has acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
"No parents ever think it's going to happen to them," Kimberly said. "So when you're standing in the room, and they tell you your kid has cancer, you're so blown away because that's always somebody else."
But it wasn't somebody else, and the family knew the odds were high that Natasha would have leukemia too.
"In the back of my mind, I just knew that her turn was coming, and the clock was just ticking," Kimberly said.
So it didn't come as a shock when Natasha was also diagnosed with ALL leukemia eight months later. She and Abigail are the only identical twins in the world with Down syndrome and leukemia.
Fortunately, there's an 85 percent cure rate for the type of leukemia the sisters have. But both girls are in the midst of a two-and-a-half year cycle of chemotherapy, which takes a toll.
Regardless, their parents find inspiration in the girls' will to fight the cancer.
"They're really pure, innocent girls; and it's neat to see that," Joshua said. "It's great to have them in the house."
"They help wipe away what we think is really important, and get down to the basics," he added.
If you think too much about it, you'll feel overwhelmed. But we try to take it one day at a time.
–Joshua Tillotson
"What they both have to go through is awful," Kimberly said. "But we're going to look back on this someday and be so grateful for the experience that it brought to all of us in our family."
The Tillotsons spent 11 weeks in the hospital with one or both of the twins, and more treatment is ahead. To make matters worse, Joshua lost his job in April, and the family had to move into a relative's basement to offset their expenses.
"If you think too much about it, you'll feel overwhelmed," Joshua said. "But we try to take it one day at a time."
A month ago, as the family surveyed their expenses and the costs associated with raising twins with cancer, they made the uneasy decision to ask for money online.
The decision was tough for the Tillotsons, mainly because they had always been self-reliant. But they had run out of options and friends suggested they might be able to raise a couple thousand dollars.
So, the family posted a video of the twins on a fundraising website and waited to see what would happen.
"When we got the response that we did, it made me feel good," Kimberly said. "It made me feel like this isn't just our battle, that the community wants to jump in and help."
Thousands of people watched the video; hundreds passed along kind thoughts and words of inspiration; and many pitched in with generous contributions.
It just has been so heartwarming to us to see that we're not anything spectacular, but there's a whole community out there that cares.
–Kimberly Tillotson
Donations hit $20,000 in six days, and surpassed $25,000 in less than a month — 10 times what the family ever expected.
"Most of it is from people we don't know, from around the world and places we've never been," Kimberly said.
"It just has been so heartwarming to us to see that we're not anything spectacular, but there's a whole community out there that cares — that cares about our girls and cares about their illness and what they're going through, and they want to help us fight this battle too," Kim added.
They say they try to stay positive and live one day at a time, and now know they have many caring people on their side.
Their fundraising effort is closed, but you can learn more about the girls by visiting their Facebook Page, Help our Twins, Abigail and Natasha Tillotson.
