Special Concert Raising Money For Identical Twins With Cancer

BY ALEX CABRERO, KSL TV | DECEMBER 4, 2020 AT 10:34 PM
UPDATED: DECEMBER 7, 2020 AT 10:02 AM

BOUNTIFUL, Utah – While holiday concerts will look different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact from one event will be greater than one Utah family ever expected. There’s a special bond between identical twins. Kate and Ellie, both 3 years old, share everything. 

“Team twinkles,” said their father, Marcus, with a smile. It will make it that much sweeter when they both share stories of how they beat cancer. “We had a few little rough moments,” said their mother, Megan. “There’s been some harder phases that they went through, and they were definitely hard. But overall, they are doing really well.”

Kate got it first in October 2019. Then, this past March, Ellie was diagnosed with it. Her parents, who didn’t want their last names to be known, said Ellie just had to have what her sister had. “They love to be identical,” said Marcus with a laugh. Having cancer is tough enough. But having it during the COVID-19 pandemic — the family took their other three children out of school and went into isolation.

“Having two little girls that don’t have an immune system and trying to figure out how that works and that’s still a crazy part right now,” said Marcus. Even crazier is when they got a call from a school their children don’t go to, from people they don’t even know, wanting to help. “It’s kind of a learning process to be able to accept other people’s help. You want to feel self-sufficient,” said Marcus.
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However, Jana Monson, who runs Creative Arts Academy in Bountiful, said helping a family in need is something her school does every holiday season. So, when she heard about these twins, she knew which family her students were going to help this year. 

​“Our goal and our mission here is to have the kids use their talents to give back to the community,” said Monson. “Their story just touched our hearts to have two children with cancer.”

The school is hosting a fundraising virtual concert with its students. They’re even doing a silent auction where every penny raised will help Kate and Ellie with their leukemia treatments.

“It’s amazing and it’s a blessing to see how many people have come together to help us,” said Megan. “We can’t thank them enough.” It’s a reminder that people care. And twins, together, can beat anything.“We try to find the good. Because there’s always good if you’re looking for it,” said Megan.

The family said chemotherapy treatments will continue for two years. They’ll have a better answer to how their children are doing in 2022.

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