Violinist diagnosed with leukemia at 15 returns to hospital to give holiday concert

Last spring, Sophia Treadwell, a 15-year-old sophomore at Coral Reef High, was practicing her violin when she started feeling soreness in her left arm.

“Her arm was hurting and we thought it was from playing the violin because they practice so much,” said her mother, Boriana Treadwell, 48, a professor in the School of Communications at the University of Miami.

But a visit to her pediatrician the next day proved otherwise. Sophia’s blood test results showed she had leukemia, and a large concentration of the cells were in the bone marrow area.

“I didn’t have a reaction at first because I was just so shocked,” Sophia said.

“It’s still unreal,’’ her mother added. “It still hasn’t sunk in that she’s been dealing with this for the last seven and a half months.”

Sophia, who lives in Palmetto Bay with her family, was treated at Holtz Children’s Hospital and has been in remission since August.

With the help of Stephanie Epstein, 31, the music therapist at Holtz, Sophia used her love for music to help her get through the hospital stays and the numerous treatments. In addition to the violin, Sophia plays piano and guitar.

“We did some songwriting to help her process all this,” said Epstein. “She loves to give concerts, so she gave concerts throughout the chemo unit,” Epstein said.

The music helped Sophia heal.

“When I first got here [Holtz] I really didn’t want to do anything because I was feeling so bad. But eventually, I let Stephanie in. It’s taken my mind off all the bad things going on because music is my life,” Sophia said.

On Monday, Sophia returned to Holtz, this time in a long red silk skirt, a black top, Santa’s hat on her head and her violin in hand. And she wasn’t alone — she brought four of her Coral Reef classmates and fellow orchestra members with her: Sara Palacios on violin, Meghan Mattimore on double bass, Brian Giraud on cello and Robert Fornos on viola.

After playing a couple of songs together, her friends cheered her on and convinced Sophia to say a few words.

“I wanted to come back and play for Holtz because you all gave me happiness while I was here,” Sophia said, greeting a small crowd that included patients, doctors, nurses and staff at Holtz.

Her friends brought their instruments and together they put on a concert of the most cheerful and fun holiday songs.

A young girl with perfectly braided hair in an eggplant-purple sweatshirt brought her IV pole with her and enjoyed the performance.

“Some patients couldn’t attend because they can’t leave their rooms, so our staffers are FaceTiming the concert for them,” said Epstein.

Sophia’s mother stood off to the side and watched with pride, as her daughter, who is shy and smiled coyly, brought the concert to life.

“When I hear her sing, I know that she’s happy,” her mother said.

This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 5:49 AM.