April 2022 AMCer

Five years ago, Corbin’s parents were incredibly excited to learn they were finally expecting their rainbow baby, after years of trying! However, at the 20- week ultrasound, they were told their son was going to face some hardships in his life and they felt like their rainbow was shattered by storms. Corbin’s parents left the OB’s office with a sticky note that said “short extremities, joint contractures and clubfeet”, and a referral to Maternal Fetal Medicine. They had more questions than answers and anxiously awaited the appointment but were dumbfounded when they were quickly offered the option to terminate the pregnancy. They had tried so hard and knew they wanted this child, so they forged on.

On May 22, 2016 Corbin made his entrance into the world. His parents instantly knew he was absolutely perfect! His official diagnoses consisted of bilateral clubfeet, hip dysplasia, torticollis, and arthrogryposis. In his short 5 years of life he has endured so much! From leg and hip/spica casts, hand splints, cranial helmet, leg braces and special shoes to a broken leg, multiple hospital stays, and several surgeries. Despite all of this, he maintains the best personality and disposition to handle anything thrown his way and Corbin’s parents are so incredibly proud of him.

The family sought care locally in Atlanta for 3 years before they decided Corbin needed more. They followed their collective parental gut and sought the best doctor, who they knew had the expertise to help Corbin. Unfortunately, maintaining continuity of care with this specialist involves frequent and extensive long distance travel and being a single income family of four, with numerous bills and medical expenses (not just for Corbin, they are also a kidney transplant donor/recipient family), this presents a hardship. When you add the expensive braces/boots and twice-weekly physical therapy sessions to the list, it quickly becomes financially and emotionally overwhelming.

Corbin has been seeing Dr. Dobbs for two years now and they followed him when he moved from St. Louis, Missouri to West Palm Beach, Florida. They were so excited to learn that his move to West Palm would allow Corbin access to another doctor, Dr. David Feldman, who is an Arthrogryposis specialist at the top of his field. Dr. Feldman has already made a world of difference in Corbin’s growth with surgery and while Corbin’s surgeries are not over, they are incredibly excited to have the perfect team helping give him every possible opportunity to be the independent boy he deserves to be.

Corbin’s family is so very thankful for nonprofit organizations that can provide aid to families like theirs, to ensure they are able to get the treatment their son needs and help ease some burdens in the process.

Helping AMC Families is thrilled, through the support of our amazing donors, to be able to Corbin’s family with expenses related to their trip down to The Paley Institute in West Palm Beach, FL so Corbin could have his follow-up appointments and consult for his next surgery/treatment plan.

During this trip, Corbin’s next surgery was scheduled for July 2022 so his family intends to utilize the remaining balance of their $5000 award, later this year, to help with expenses related to that trip, as well.