Eric Schroeder/ Winonan

Most people, unfortunately, know someone who has been diagnosed with a life-changing disease. While the disease, in itself, has a battle similar for everyone, each individual has their own unique story of their fight. One young Winona individual has his own super hero story: one that has touched the lives of many, including two Warrior football players.

Gavin Quimby, a 4-year-old Winona native, is fighting leukodystrophy, a progressive degeneration of white matter in the brain, which is due to an absence or abnormal growth of the myelin sheath. He was diagnosed with this disease in December 2013. Tragically, there is no cure and treatment is limited.

Quimby, a fighter, became Winona’s own Superman—literally. This past summer Winona made a special day for Quimby to emulate his favorite superhero Superman. With the help of Super Gav, Winona was saved from disaster. The community rallied around him in support of him and his family.

After heading up the cities to have his Hickman catheter placed at the end of August, Quimby and his family moved into the Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis. This catheter will assist in chemo treatments and other medications to help with his stem cell transplant. It was there that two Winona State Warrior football players visited him.

On Saturday, Sept. 6, Quimby was surpised by these two visitors.

“He was overcome with happiness and was all smiles,” senior linebacker Aaron Anderson-Walker said in regards to their arrival.

Anderson-Walker’s neighbor, Rocky Rohn, a Winona State University employee, approached him about Quimby. Rohn reached out to the football player and asked if he and his teammate and roommate, Larry Mbayu, would be interested in visiting Quimby during some of their downtime. After talking with their head coach Tom Sawyer, the two planned a day to head up to the cities. They brought with them Winona State gear including a signed football. What they brought back was much more.

“The amazing feeling during and after our visit with Gavin will be with me forever,” Anderson-Walker said.

While it was difficult to take a trip, with balancing school and football, they did not hesitate to help brighten Quimby’s day. Super Gav, they reflected, was not the only one who was impacted from that day.