At age nine Jess Quinn, 21, broke her leg in a seemingly random soccer accident but when the break failed to heal, tests revealed cancer on the bone.
Quinn underwent chemotherapy followed by a radical surgery called rotationplasty (where the thigh and knee joint are removed and the lower leg is transported to hip level and rotated 180 degrees in order to make the foot function as the knee joint). She has required a prosthetic leg ever since.
Fast forward to 2014 and Quinn is a promising fashion student completing her Bachelor of Art and Design at AUT. As part of her study she is designing and making a series of interchangeable and fashionable prosthetic leg covers. Her goal is to use this research and its outcomes during her masters, which she intends to complete in London next year.
Outside of study and fashion she mentors and supports cancer patients and amputees as they undergo treatments like rotationplasty and recovery from limb loss.
She has been honoured for her efforts by being selected as a ‘Youth Award’ finalist in the 2014 Attitude Awards which celebrate the excellence and achievements of disabled Kiwis. Award winners will be revealed at a black-tie gala on World Disability Day at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre on December 3.
www.attitudelive.com