Corbin, Beating the Odds

Corbin grooming his horse

We met five-year old Corbin,and his mom on a beautiful Thursday evening in the serene countryside in southwestern Ohio that Triangle Therapy Services calls home.

As Corbin prepared his horse for the session – helping taking the horse from the stall, grooming him, completing all the necessary steps, we watched him carefully follow the pictured directions in order while we talked with his mom.

Corbin had been up since 6:30 a.m. and spent the entire day undergoing a series of tests at a hospital almost two hours from home.  Mom said she could tell he was tired, but at 8:15 p.m. he had completed dozens of exercises his therapist had designed for him, including doing sit-ups and holding his hands in the air – all while balancing on the horse, laughing and smiling.  And he still had enough energy to play on the swings and the slide in the playground when hippotherapy was over.

Therapy = fun on a horse

This lively little boy filled us with joy, especially knowing how his story could be so much different.

Erin and Josh, Corbin’s mom and dad, know all too well how life can change in a flash. In the summer of 2019, Josh was preparing dinner; Erin, an Occupational Therapy Assistant, hadn’t arrived home from work.  

Corbin asked his dad if he could go outside. Josh told him no, because dinner was almost ready. But Corbin, four at the time, slipped out the door, and headed to the family’s pool.  By the time Josh discovered Corbin was gone and found him, he was not breathing. Little Corbin had suffered a near-drowning.

The traumatic brain injury which resulted carried a very dire prognosis: doctors told Erin and Josh that Corbin wouldn’t be able to walk or talk, and that he would probably have to spend the rest of his life in an institution.

Still hard at work after a long day

Erin was familiar with hippotherapy as a result of her training. When she found that Triangle Therapy Services, just twenty minutes from their home, offered hippotherapy, she was thrilled. Pairing Corbin with a horse as a therapy tool seemed natural; Corbin loves animals – he has a dog named Sadie and his family is planning to get a new puppy.  He loves hippotherapy. It has allowed him to experience continuous improvement with his balance and fine and gross motor skills.

“Now he’s doing all those things they said he would never do,” Erin told us. Indeed he is, and Jacob’s Fund is thrilled to be able to fund a scholarship for his hippotherapy this summer.

We hope you’re as happy as we at Jacob’s Fund are to learn about the progress Corbin has made and continues to make. We welcome your comments and hope that you will consider a donation to Jacob’s Fund that will ensure that Corbin can continue hippotherapy.

 It’s easy – just go to our page, Jacob Beachy Fund, on Facebook, and click on the Donate button.  It takes only a few seconds, and you will know that you have made a positive change in the life of a child.