Korbin's Service Dog Fundraiser

Korbin  is currently a happy and hard working 5 year old boy in Tallahassee, Florida who has been on a journey to find his voice, stay healthy, and get the best treatment possible since his developmental regression almost 3 years ago, and subsequent medical complications that followed.

The Beginning - The Regression

 As a typically developing infant that met or exceeded developmental milestones, Korbin was well on his way to bringing his joyful spirit and infectious laugh to so many others around him. However, in November of 2017 he developed a respiratory infection, was treated, and then over the next few weeks lost most of the skills he learned in his first two years of life. He began to have sensory processing issues, stopped responding to his name, making eye contact, avoided social interactions, lost fine and gross motor functions, and most notably, all spoken speech. After his official diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder at 30 months of age (2018), early interventions began and our family's lives changed forever.  

Define "Treatment"

Korbin quickly began getting treatments like Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and ABA Therapy to help him relearn skills that had seemingly disappeared. To compliment those experiences, adaptive aquatics, art therapy, music therapy and equine therapy were also added. All were helpful in slowly starting to bring back some of the abilities and strengthening new ones. But without adequate communication methods, his peers soon passed him by in measurable academics, social development, and play skills. Korbin's mom knew she needed to learn all she could. Attending conferences, reading research, participating in studies, and engulfing herself in the special needs community seemed to be the best way to educate herself as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Together,  Korbin's family started to explore additional options for helping his overall health and sought out specialists outside of the usual listings to try and see why Korbin's mind and body may have hit a speed bump that they're having a hard time recovering from.

#TeamKorbin

As the members of #teamkorbin began to grow with specialists from all over the country including reputable contributors to ASD research, pediatricians with decades of ASD experience, so began the biomedical portion of Korbin's treatment path. Testing everything from what was in the diaper, to the blood and even the advanced neurology behind ASD characteristics, Korbin's daily life was full of changes - diet & nutrition; exercises; sensory challenges; supplementation; and learning a whole new way to communicate with signs and pictures were just the few of the challenges he and everyone around him had to navigate. More tests brought information, but also more questions. Improvement is slow, isolated at times, and often followed by smaller regressions. But continued therapy, a great ESE program at school, and trying various strategies to help with things we were learning from labs and testing were making the days ahead look so promising.

But wait - there's more!

Unfortunately the hope of developmental and behavioral growth was short lived and medical issues took precedence. Four EEGs and 3 Neurologists later, Korbin was diagnosed with Epilepsy (absence seizures) in the summer of 2019. Then, in November of 2019 we discovered that the congenital heart defect he was born with (Ventricular Septal Defect) that had not yet been a problem, was quickly becoming a major one. We had to quarantine immediately to make sure he was well enough for surgery (quarantining BEFORE it was cool). In January of 2020, Korbin underwent open heart surgery to correct a small hole in his heart that was causing issues with his aortic valve. Having been poked, prodded, attached to many wires and hoses, hospitalized in a pediatric cardiac ICU, and doing our best to support him physically, mentally and emotionally, I think we were all grateful for him to be able to finally go back to his classroom, his wonderful teachers, and the therapists and friends who help him so much. But who could have predicted there was an upcoming global pandemic? Our priority has and always will be his safety and wellness, and since there is still so much we don't know about COVID-19, our family stays quarantined as best as we can and takes all the necessary precautions. Meanwhile though, Korbin misses out on critical social interaction, opportunities for play, and life skills practice in the community. We are grateful for how far he has come but want to do everything we can to help support him with the day to day struggles he has - from sensory, to social, to anxiety - and believe strongly that a well trained furry friend is just the prescription we've needed all along.

We hope that you can find a way to help in our cause, even during these trying times for so many. No matter the dollar amount, or even just a share of a link - All is appreciated.

Thank you so much - and welcome to #TeamKorbin