Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Tumor couldn't sideline Quinn's football dreams

North Charleston athlete is on the move at UNC

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Robert Quinn was destined to be here. The path he took was unexpectedly treacherous.

A nimble, strong, 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive end, Quinn worked his way into the starting lineup as a freshman for the University of North Carolina.

That part of his life was expected.

This part wasn’t:

Last October — after a series of headaches, memory lapses and fainting spells — a tumor was discovered in Quinn’s brain.

A football standout and state wrestling champion at North Charleston’s Fort Dorchester High, he heard the words teenagers aren’t supposed to hear: Your athletic career is over.

Surgery and an encouraging pathology report took the edge off that dire declaration. Quinn took it from there.

“I just take it as being blessed,” Quinn said last week at UNC’s Kenan Stadium. “I wasn’t supposed to be playing sports anymore. I’m here proving them wrong.”

A year ago, proving people wrong by excelling in football was a foreign concept to Quinn; he already had proven himself. Recruiting analysts ranked him among the top five seniors in South Carolina as the 2007 season began. Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and UNC were among the schools offering scholarships.

Something appeared amiss to Fort Dorchester football coach Steve LaPrad, though.

“He looked confused,” LaPrad said. “Before a play, he was asking the (defensive back) something. He’s played for three years. Why would he need to ask a DB something?”

Quinn was a step or two slow. His balance was slightly off, allowing ball carriers he normally corralled to scoot away.

“People that couldn’t even touch him the year before were staying with him and blocking him,” LaPrad said.

Off the field, strange symptoms developed.

His eyes became yellow, then red. There were headaches and a fainting spell. A vision test showed no abnormalities.

That changed on Oct. 26, a few hours after Quinn made six tackles in a loss to Summerville.

After going out to eat with his girlfriend and dropping her at her house, Quinn began the two-minute drive home. He needed help to get there.

“I pulled up to a stop sign to turn. I remember pulling up to the stop sign, and I don’t remember anything after that.”

Quinn made one wrong turn. Then another. Then he turned around. Miraculously, he avoided driving into anything.

His mother, Maria, grew concerned when her son hadn’t arrived home, so she headed out to find him. She happened upon him as he was driving toward her. Her headlights caught his attention, snapping him out of his stupor.

“The lights were real bright. I guess that woke me up or something. I slowed down. I finally realized what was going on. I was kind of in shock. What just happened?”

Two days later, another clue arrived. Quinn passed out in his bedroom. He came to, not knowing how long he had been out, walked into the bathroom and passed out again.

He awoke to his father, James, slapping him in the face, trying to revive him.

“That’s enough,” Maria Quinn said, and the family headed to the closest hospital, in Summerville.

There, the Quinns were startled to learn what had been troubling their son: A CT scan revealed a tumor in his brain.

“I was shocked and scared,” James Quinn said.

Quinn was transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. The day after the tumor was found, Dr. Byron Bailey drilled a hole in Quinn’s skull. The neurosurgeon took a biopsy of the tumor but couldn’t safely remove it because it was imbedded so deeply.

The tumor blocked the flow of fluid to Quinn’s spine, causing the symptoms. One option was a shunt, an internal tube that would drain the fluid into his stomach to be flushed out.

That would mean the end of his athletic career.

The other, somewhat more radical, option was to puncture a hole in the brain that would allow the fluid to flow around the tumor into the spinal cavity.

“It’s better to have a natural pathway rather than a shunt if you want to play sports,” Bailey said.

Quinn chose the second option, and the surgery was a success. Still, Quinn didn’t know if he would survive, let alone play football again.

College football coaches stayed true to their pledges. The fax machine near his hospital room began spitting out letters wishing him well and letting him know his scholarship offers were still good, regardless of whether he played another down of football.

‘I’LL PLAY AGAIN’

Quinn remained befuddled.

“At that point, with me playing sports my whole life, I didn’t know if I wanted to go to college anymore, at least to a football college. I was excited that they were going to honor (his scholarship offers), but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. My football career was almost over. Well, supposedly then it was over.”

But something amazing happened as Quinn contemplated his future, with his coach and teammates and family members at his bedside.

“He handled everything better than I did, his parents did, all his friends did,” LaPrad said. “He’s just a different animal. He was down when he first heard he wasn’t going to get to play. We were all with him. What do you say? It took about five to six minutes for him to gather himself. He said, ‘Aahh, I’ll be all right. I’ll play again. You’ll see.’”

Good news began to flow.

The tumor wasn’t cancerous. Quinn left the hospital and attended South Carolina’s home game against Florida at Williams-Brice Stadium.

He saw Carlos Dunlap, his Fort Dorchester teammate the year before, make his first collegiate sack as a freshman for the Gators.

Later that night on TV, Quinn saw Dunlap dedicate it to him.

“At that time, I didn’t think he would get to play again,” Dunlap said. “I wanted to dedicate that to him since he wasn’t able to get it.”

But Bailey knew differently. While the tumor would have to be monitored to ensure it didn’t grow and cause new problems, Quinn could return to playing sports.

In January, Quinn rejoined Fort Dorchester’s wrestling team. In February, he won his third consecutive Class 4A state championship.

And on Feb. 6, National Signing Day, Quinn signed a letter of intent to play football at North Carolina.

Butch Davis, the Tar Heels’ coach, had been through a similar scare in 2006 when a cancerous growth was found in his mouth. The two bonded, and Davis knew he had landed a special player.

“After he got a clean bill of health, I expected him to be an outstanding player,” the coach said. “He’s a great kid. He’s got great work ethic.”

An exam before the start of practice last summer showed all was well with the tumor, although Bailey said Quinn never will be completely out of the woods.

“All of these things have calculated risks,” Bailey said. “He’s not in jeopardy on the football field. He must be checked vigilantly. We did what we did to give him the opportunity to pursue what he enjoyed. That’s not to say it’s a risk-fee path.”

Wasting no time, Quinn set about moving up the Tar Heels’ depth chart, earning a starting job for the second game and holding onto it as 22nd-ranked North Carolina plays at Notre Dame today.

“I don’t take anything for granted anymore. Coach Davis (said), ‘When do you know when your last play is going to be? If you knew, would you play it harder than the one before?’ Play hard every play you can and give it all you’ve got.”

Davis has taken notice.

“He didn’t come in with any kind of attitude that ‘I’m arrived and I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread,’” Davis said. “He just went out there and went to work. That’s how you endear yourself to your teammates.”

Back home in the Lowcountry, Quinn’s family and former coach and teammates couldn’t be more pleased.

“It makes you happy,” LaPrad said. “In the world today, it seems like good people die and bad things are happening to good people. It’s nice to see something good happening to someone good.”

Reach Wiseman at (803) 771-8472.