The Mighty Quinn marks 7th birthday with toy drive for kids with cancer

Jessica Trufant, The Patriot Ledger
·3 min read
Quinn Waters, of Weymouth, also known as "The Mighty Quinn," holds a T-shirt presented to him by the L-Street Brownies Swimming Club of South Boston during the third annual North Quincy Polar Plunge at Wollaston Beach, Quincy, to benefit his cancer battle, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023.
Quinn Waters, of Weymouth, also known as "The Mighty Quinn," holds a T-shirt presented to him by the L-Street Brownies Swimming Club of South Boston during the third annual North Quincy Polar Plunge at Wollaston Beach, Quincy, to benefit his cancer battle, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023.

WEYMOUTH − Quinn Waters, known locally as “The Mighty Quinn,” has been in the hearts and minds of people across the South Shore since his brain cancer diagnosis in 2019.

Police and fire departments, sports teams, rock bands and community groups from the South Shore and beyond have rallied around Quinn and his family. At one point, Quinn could only interact with visitors through a window – referred to by his family as the “Quinndow” – where he watched regular parades of police cars and fire trucks go by to brighten his day.

Since then, the family has made efforts to give back and support other children going through cancer treatment, from urging blood donation to hosting toy drives.

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For his 7th birthday, Quinn and his 10-year-old sister, Maggie, are collecting toys for the "toy closet" at the Massachusetts General Hospital radiation center. On Fridays, children receiving radiation get to pick out a toy for themselves, and siblings can pick out a toy as well. Quinn hopes to stock the closet with toys.

"Hi fans. It's me, Mighty Quinn. I'm just saying that on my birthday we're giving out a toy drive for people who have cancer, even kids, at my radiation club," Quinn said in a video posted to social media.

Quinn’s mother, Tara Waters, a Quincy police officer who chronicles life with childhood cancer through a popular Facebook page, said the family needed a U-Haul truck to get all the toys to Boston Children's Hospital during the last toy drive. Quinn has been asking to do another one ever since, and they figured his birthday was the perfect time.

"The Mighty Quinn" Waters, 5, center, is all smiles as he greets Christmas carolers Rose Pope, left, and Loretta Pope, right, both of Braintree, outside his Weymouth home Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021.
"The Mighty Quinn" Waters, 5, center, is all smiles as he greets Christmas carolers Rose Pope, left, and Loretta Pope, right, both of Braintree, outside his Weymouth home Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021.

“(Quinn and Maggie) are so into it, and it’s been enjoyable seeing his empathy and Maggie’s empathy,” Waters said. They’ve been “completely” overwhelmed with the response so far, she said.

"Our understanding is the nurses and staff actually use their own money to buy toys, so we’re hoping to refill the closets."

Just after Quinn's third birthday, in February 2019, doctors found a tumor on his brain. He underwent four rounds of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant in June of that year.

In January 2021, a routine MRI uncovered two nodules in different locations in Quinn's brain, suggesting that the cancer had spread. In March of that year, he began high-dose radiation therapy, five days a week for six weeks.

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The latest MRI, on Dec. 19, showed no evidence of new disease or growth, Waters said.

The Mighty Quinn will be collecting donations of new, unwrapped toys for children ages 4 to 14 through Feb. 16. People can drop the toys off at the Cottage Bar at 26 Union St. in Weymouth. The family will deliver the toys to Massachusetts General Hospital on Feb. 17.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Toy drive for kids with cancer marks Mighty Quinn's 7th birthday