Quinn Anton-Jensen, Age 9
Hiawatha, IA

Home and Family

Quinn lives with his mom, dad, and two older brothers; Grant who is 15 and Drew who is 12. The family pet is a Shitzu-Poodle named Madison-Belle. Quinn is the only one in his family affected with SMA.

Diagnosis

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease affecting the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement. The age at which SMA symptoms begin roughly correlates with the degree to which motor function is affected: The earlier the age of onset, the greater the impact on motor function. The biggest potential problems in SMA are respiratory muscle weakness, swallowing muscle weakness, and back muscle weakness with progressive spinal curvature.

School

Quinn’s favorite subjects in school are math, science, PE, music and art. He also enjoys reading any chance he gets.

Interests

Quinn is very active and participates in Lego League, Hiawatha Highlights Show Choir, Church-Wesley Choir, and Miracles in Motion.

MDA Activities

Quinn has attended MDA Camp for 3 years and looks forward to it every year. Quinn has been very involved with MDA as a local ambassador in many MDA programs including MDA Telethon, Muscle Team, Muscle Walk, Casey’s Mobile Ambassador, Shamrock Ambassador, and Fill the Boot Ambassador just to name a few. In his role as the State of Iowa Goodwill Ambassador, Quinn and his parents will travel the state to attend MDA fundraisers, gatherings of sponsors, and other events to spread the word about MDA and its mission to find treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy and related muscle diseases.