By Mallory Harris | Staff Writer
Cleburne senior Sarah Turner learned of her leukemia diagnosis in January 2020, right before classes began for the semester.
Natalie Turner, Sarah’s twin, shared that after undergoing treatment, it was in June of that same year when Sarah received a stem cell transplant and was officially cancer-free. Natalie expressed how Sarah was always an encouraging presence in her life, and in the six months of remission, it was great to have fewer worries.
“Walking through that journey with her, having the cancer present there was very difficult. I had never been through something so challenging in my life, and I know in Sarah’s too,” Natalie said. “So, June 2020 all the way through December 2020 [Sarah] went cancer-free, until it relapsed.”
On the evening of April 12, Sarah died after her battle with leukemia.
“A Baylor Business Fellow, Sarah was pursuing a joint Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting/Masters of Accountancy (BBA/MAcc) degree and was heading into the master’s component of her academic journey,” said an email sent out by the university notifying the Baylor Family of Sarah’s death.
Not only did Sarah excel in academics, but she was also involved in the Christian Business Leaders student organization, Student Foundation and Beta Alpha Psi, and she was attendee of Highland Baptist Church.
Sulphur Springs sophomore Zoe Wilson was a close friend of Sarah’s and shared how she always loved people and would always ask how she could pray for them.
“[Sarah] was just a friend, and she was always available to talk and to just spend time together and get to know each other better. She gave so much good advice,” Wilson said. “She just made it a better place and created an atmosphere for wanting to get to know people and to know their stories, which is crazy with how much she had going on.”
Wilson shared the story of how she met Sarah and her twin Natalie while attending a service at Highland. She said they quickly became friends. Using one word to describe Sarah, Wilson chose “strong” because of Sarah’s loving personality and dedication to her studies even in a hospital bed.
Baylor Spiritual Life held a service in Sarah’s memory April 15, which allowed those who knew her to celebrate her life and mourn the loss of her together.
“I went to the Zoom gathering that [Baylor] had in honor of Sarah, and so many professors talked about how she never asked for an extension even after she was diagnosed and be in the hospital, and she would still be going on Zoom for a class,” Wilson said.
Throughout sharing Sarah’s story, Natalie constantly referenced how Sarah’s battle allowed them both to grow in their faith and reliance on Christ. Growing up as a twin, Natalie explained how the innate competition typically seen in those relationships was different between her and her sister because of Sarah’s humility and desire to put God and people before herself.
“Taking that eternal perspective towards life and all of her relationships like with friends and even just people she would barely know or meet, just always wanting to put them first, I think that was a very humble thing,” Natalie said. “Never boasting about her own work, I mean she was very successful at Baylor in her academics and heavily involved in student life, but she would never come out and say that.”
As Wilson and Natalie shared, many people could see the light of Christ in Sarah’s life in her hopeful and loving personality.
“She was loved by so many people, and I still consider myself a twin, and that’s never going to go away even though she’s in heaven,” Natalie said. “I feel so blessed to have her as my twin.”
