Identical twins Billie Jo Rose and Bobbie Jo Sullivan.Photo: today
Billie Jo Rose’s dream of becoming a mother was realized earlier this year thanks to her identical twin sister, Bobbie Jo Sullivan.
Sullivan donated eggs to Rose, who has struggled with infertility after undergoing chemotherapy first as a child — she was diagnosed with leukemia at age 7 — and again as an adult, when she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
Rose told theTodayshow Wednesday that her breast cancer diagnosis, which came 25 years after her leukemia diagnosis, was “shocking.”
“It was just shocking, but they said it was very treatable and then I went through chemotherapy, again, and then I opted to do the double mastectomy because I did not want this reoccurring in any way shape or form,” she toldToday.
“She immediately said, ‘My sister Bobbie is in. She has been talking about this with me for years,'” Goldman said. “And it was the plan from there on.”
“In my head, I’m like, ‘Why? Why is this always happening to her? Why can’t I take some of this?'” Sullivan said.
“It was just a whole thing of thanking Bobbie for being able to do this to make this all possible,” Rose said. “I have a family now and it was just like the best thing ever.”
For Sullivan, it has been just as rewarding. “To see the smile on her face and the smile on her husband’s face, I would do it 100 times over again, without a doubt,” she said of donating her eggs to Rose.
Sullivan helping her twin in her IVF journey is the second time she’s made a major donation to Rose.
Identical twins Billie Jo Rose and Bobbie Jo Sullivan.today
Sullivan donated bone marrow to her sister back when they were kids after Rose’s leukemia diagnosis.
“They asked me if I wanted to be a donor and I was like, ‘Yes, absolutely,'” Sullivan said onToday. “When it came down to it, they were like, ‘Well, if they’re twins, if they’re identical, this could be 100 percent,’ and lo and behold, it was.”
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The bone marrow transplant was successful and after 15 years of testing, doctors officially told her Rose was cured.
“We joke around. Like when I’m older, if I need a kidney or something, I’m like, I know who I’m coming to,” Sullivan said onToday.
source: people.com
