A Webster Parish boy will serve as Louisiana’s ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network.
Corbin Colvin, center, was chosen as this year’s Children’s Miracle Network Champion. Pictured with him, from left, are Isaac Palmer, CEO of Christus Health Shreveport-Bossier, Corbin’s brother, Casey, their mother, Jordan Colvin, Miss Minden Macey Colvin, Miss Louisiana April Nelson, Miss Dixie Gem Peach Outstanding Teen Alana Lewis of Haughton and Minden Mayor Tommy Davis. CMN is the signature charity of the Miss Louisiana Pageant. Michelle Bates/Press-Herald
Corbin Colvin, 5, was named as Christus Health Shreveport-Bossier’s 2016-17 CMN Hospitals Champion.
Throughout the year, Colvin and his family will serve as local, state and national spokespeople, advocating for the charitable need at children’s hospitals across North America. Colvin was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a disease that permanently affects body movement, muscle coordination and balance.
Corbin Colvin, along with his parents Corey and Jordan pose for a picture after learning Corbin will be Louisiana 2016 ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network in January. Bruce Franklin/Press-Herald
His mother, Jordan Colvin, says he’s extremely smart, although he was physically developmentally delayed. She says he was chosen as this year’s champion because of his battle to fight the disease.
“We’ve been doing events with Children’s Miracle Network for several months now,” she said. “They work well with Christus Kids Clinic, and they put in an application for Corbin. We sent in letters of recommendation to CMN to tell them their opinion about Corbin and his progress. Corbin is our miracle, and we look forward to sharing his story and inspiring others to give back to an organization that has already done so much for our family and the local families in northwest Louisiana.”
Jordan Colvin says Christus Health Shreveport-Bossier is one of five clinics in Louisiana that works with CMN.
As a champion, Corbin will travel on an ambassador tour to Washington, DC this June and to Orlando, FL in March 2017 to share their stories with a national audience.
To recognize the champion’s journey, Delta, Marriott, Chico’s FAS and Ace Hardware associates were accompanied by Minden Mayor Tommy Davis and Bro. Steve Gilley of First Baptist Church in Minden at the launch event at the family life center of the church.
Born in 2011, he came into the world three months premature, weighing only approximately two pounds. By the time he came home three months later, he weighed about five pounds. It wasn’t until he was about nine months old she began to notice he was not developing as he should.
“He was very cognitively active,” she said. “He showed a lot of emotion, and he would belly crawl. He would coo and talk and all the things babies are supposed to do, but about nine months, we started noticing he was having some developmental delays, not crawling on his hands and knees.”
Since then, Corbin has been in physical and occupational therapy and has had surgery to help loosen up his muscles. Jordan Colvin says he’s gone from a four-sided walker, now to the tripod canes, which allows him to walk and assists with balance.
“Now we’re working on crutches,” she said. “He’s doing super good.”
She says he can count up to 10 in Spanish and can now write. Physical and occupational therapists are working with his gross and fine motor skills, and Corbin’s mother says he isn’t letting the disease get him down. He rides horses, sheep and plays T-ball, she said.
Miss Minden Macey Colvin is Corbin’s aunt, and she says she is very proud of her nephew.
“He’s been our miracle baby,” she said. “He’s sharp as a tack. He doesn’t miss anything; he’s just a little bit slow when it comes to walking.”
Macey Colvin says he attends Lagniappe Montessori School in Minden.
“He does all the things the other kids do,” she said. “He competes in rodeos and ropes and everything else. We’ve had a lot of support in the community, it’s just getting them to know about Children’s Miracle Network.”
She says he doesn’t meet a stranger and always has a smile on his face.
“He’s our little toughie,” she said.
Since 1983, CMN hospitals have raised more than $4.7 billion, most of it $1 at a time through the charity’s Miracle Balloon icon. Its various fundraising partners and programs support the nonprofit’s mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible.