Twins’ crusading efforts

The answer was a no-brainer for identical, 18-year-old twins Joseph and Kevin Sentilles.
                   

After the twins contracted and beat the coronavirus, they were asked to donate their plasma to help save others’ lives. After all, their mother Nora, older sister Michelle and brother Julian also had tested positive. 
                   

“I never really considered ‘no’ for an option,” said Kevin Sentilles, a Brother Martin senior. “Seeing my mom go through this and how sick she was, if someone could donate plasma and help her – now, I could save someone else’s mom or dad or son.”
                   

“We had no idea about the possibility we could help others with our antibodies,” said Joseph. “We didn’t know antibodies were a thing. We didn’t know we could do anything other than stay away from people.”
                   

  The twins donated their plasma May 1 at the blood bank of East Jefferson General Hospital, where they were born.
 

A personal connection    
                   

The Sentilles family ordeal began around March 23, when Nora Sentilles started feeling sick. She immediately quarantined herself in her bedroom, just in case. Almost simultaneously, the twins weren’t feeling well but recovered quickly. 
                   

Nora’s health deteriorated rapidly, first at home in bed for three weeks communicating with doctors virtually. When her fever rose to 104.3 degrees, she was admitted and spent six days in the hospital. It was there that her strong Catholic faith came out. She had doctors and nurses praying with her.
                   

“I don’t think I would have made it without faith,” Nora said. “At the hospital when my fever was really high, I was hallucinating. ... I became extremely religious. … I was spelling GOD. I was singing and praising God and talking to God, who I was sure was a woman.”
                   

She joked that she thought God was Mount Carmel Sister Camille Anne Campbell, president at Mount Carmel Academy, where her daughter graduated.
                   

Nora’s husband of 31 years later told her it was probably the Virgin Mary with whom she has a special relationship in association with her native Costa Rica. “She was helping me get through what I was going through in the hospital, and she gave me strength,” Nora said.
                   

Nora has since met and surpassed milestones while enduring physical and respiratory therapy at home.
                   

“I am extremely lucky that God gave me the strength to do the things I need to do,” she said. “There have been so many people who have prayed for us, brought food to us and dropped things (including masks) to our front door. We truly couldn’t have gotten here on our own.” 
 

Full-circle journey
                   

Adding to the knowledge that their mother had survived the coronavirus when they became candidates as plasma donors, the twins were informed by their mom how Kevin was born with thick blood 2001 and had life-saving plasma infusions. 
                   

“I didn’t know that that actually saved my life,” Kevin said. 
                   

“We thought we would test negative within two to three days,” Joseph said. “It actually took nine days to come back. The reason it took so long was that they were doing the antibody test.”
                   

As she told her twins the story of Kevin’s birth, Nora said through tears, “A stranger’s plasma saved my kid’s life. If that person hadn’t done a plasma donation, I might have come home with only one baby. … When I heard the pediatrician had tested them for antibodies, I knew it would complete the story for us as a family to give back to people who had given to us.”
                   

Being raised with Catholic values had much to do with their quick decision to help others. They are parishioners of St. Ann Parish in Metairie and attended its elementary school before going on to Brother Martin, as did their brother. 
                   

“As soon as my mom told me about it, I said, ‘When and where?’” Kevin said. “It wasn’t a choice. Why would I not do this? If I have the chance to help someone, I‘m going to help them. I have to do this.”
                   

In addition, the twins mentioned a service project that impacted their decision. They were summer counselors between their junior and senior years at a week-long Muscular Dystrophy Camp, which taught them appreciation for what they take for granted.
                   

“I think that’s one thing that taught us a lot about giving to others,” they said.
                   

While they may have missed special and fun events in their last high school quarter, the twins are taking it in stride and are so thankful they  experienced mild coronavirus symptoms.
                   

“It’s not the end of the world,” Joseph said about the interrupted senior year. “I’m still alive. … I am enjoying life and not too upset about it.”
                   

“We missed out on all of that,” Kevin added, “but it made me realize how much of a gift education is. When something like that that you don’t really appreciate gets taken away from you, you really understand how awesome it is. It made me sad, but it is something everyone is going through. … If all we are going to miss is the last quarter of our senior year,  I’m OK about it. There are others who are dying.”
                   

  The twins plan to donate plasma a second time. This fall, they will attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, rooming together as they have since in utero – Kevin studying computer engineering, and Joseph studying computer science.