Quamain grew up in Los Angeles, his biological father passing away before he was born. He was a fast kid and played running back in football and did sprints in track. After graduating in 1997, Quamain had a few small jobs before training to be a wildlife firefighter. He worked for the California Conservation Corps, making his way all the way up the chain of command from kitchen crew to President at one of the centers in a year. Alongside, he also ran a tool shop for three of the fire crews.
His daughter, Aja (23), was born two days after his 19th birthday. Around that time, Quamain transitioned to a homeless shelter, but remained a big part of her life. By January of 2000, he was able to get his own place and got a job as a file clerk, ultimately shifting to work in security.
In 2005, while at church, Quamain met his wife. They got married in 2014 and have four children together - Joshua (11), Israel (6), Olivia (4), and Savannah (2). His family had a dream to move to Texas, and in April 2019 it became a reality. They moved to Plano then six months later, his life changed forever. While on his garbage truck route, Quamain started experiencing contraction-like spasms from his waist to thighs. At some point, he got out of the truck, sat on the ground and wasn’t able to stand back up.
The doctors said he had a stroke in his spine at L2, which put him into a wheelchair. After discharge from the hospital after a month, he did a few weeks of rehab before back home. The Covid pandemic hit shortly after, shutting the world down. Quamain relied heavily on YouTube videos to teach him the basics of how to live life in a chair, especially with stuff around the house.
Now that he’s at ATF, Quamain wants to soak everything up as a sponge. His spinal cord injury is new so he still has no idea what he’s capable of, but his big goal leaving ATF is to walk out pushing his wheelchair, instead of having it push him.
