‘Mighty Quinn’ family rallies as dad faces own brain cancer battle
By Veronica Haynes
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BOSTON (WCVB) — A Weymouth, Massachusetts, family that the community rallied around when their young son was diagnosed with a brain tumor is again facing a heartbreaking diagnosis.
Quinn Waters of Weymouth was diagnosed with a brain tumor on Feb. 11, 2019, the day after he turned 3 years old. The boy became known as “The Mighty Quinn” for his bravery and strength in the face of his cancer battle.
Now, six years later, Quinn’s father, Jarlath Waters, has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, after becoming ill while in his native Ireland visiting family.
“We do love our little battle tested family, where our #1 rule is ‘we stick together.’ Once again this little army will be fighting the good fight, only this time it will be for our Mighty Dad,” the Waters family posted.
On their Mighty Quinn Facebook page, the family shared that Jarlath Waters suffered a seizure at the Dublin airport on April 7, and he fell and hit his head, breaking several facial bones. Doctors discovered the seizure was caused by a mass on his brain.
“We’ve struggled like the last six years with two cancer diagnosis, so now were on our third one. So, you know, it was more like, ‘why us?'” Jarlath Waters said.
Mighty Quinn at Bruins game’Mighty Quinn’ attends Boston Bruins game to celebrate final cancer treatment Once Jarlath Waters was cleared to return to Boston, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Quinn goes for treatment, removed the tumor. On May 2, the family said they received the official diagnosis of glioblastoma, and said he will be starting chemotherapy and radiation in the coming weeks.
“I don’t feel like I am gonna sit around wasting time sitting around feeling sorry for myself,” Jarlath Waters said. “It’s a blessing to be alive. I got a little bit of reminder of how important life is.”
Quinn had a medulloblastoma the size of a lime removed from his brain stem when he was 3. Two years later, he underwent treatment again after three new tumors were found. The family posted in March that Quinn, who is now in second grade, remains stable without any signs of new disease or growths.
Jarlath Waters’ oncologist said glioblastoma affects 10,000 to 15,000 Americans a year, and wonders about the odds of a father and son both having brain cancer.
“It begs a question in my mind,” said Dr. Albert Kim, an oncologist at Mass. General. “We probably don’t know everything scientifically what drives these cancers and why it happened to two people in a nuclear family.”
Albert said his patient’s age and good health will help him in his battle. In the meantime, the Waters family remains hopeful and asks for prayers.
“We have a long road ahead of us, we hope it is very, very long. We will need every single prayer you can offer our way,” the family posted. “We hope and pray for a miracle, but maybe that miracle is a lot of ‘good time’ to make as many memories as possible.”
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