IRISH American actor Aidan Quinn on vaccines & autism

The Mighty Quinn

September 18, 2008 Edited by Debbie McGoldrick

IRISH American actor Aidan Quinn – emphasizing the Irish part, as he spent a chunk of his childhood in Ireland and has worked on several films there – spoke to the Sunday Independent last week about lots of interesting matters, both career and personal. But he really stood out when talking about his 19-year-old autistic daughter who doesn’t speak. Ava Quinn has, however, been a joy to her parents, Aidan and his wife Elizabeth Bracco (sister of Lorraine Bracco of Sopranos fame.) But it surely hasn’t been easy for the family, which also includes a 10-year-old girl. Ava was, according to her dad, a perfectly normal baby, until she got vaccinated. “So we had a normal child that was walking, talking, doing everything way faster than she was supposed to. Then, after an MMR, she got a 106 fever and turned blue and woke up the next day with dark circles and not knowing who she was. And uncoordinated. And her arm lifted up. Of course the doctors are all saying, ‘Oh, that’s normal.’”