Corbin was diagnosed with a developmental malformation of his brain known as Cortical Dysplasia.
  The abnormality that Corbin’s scan was showing, was that of many small folds on the surface of the brain and was called Polymicrogyria.

It appeared that it was only the right side of Corbin’s brain that was malformed and his doctors explained that Corbin’s condition may mean he would experience varying degrees of Global developmental disabilities or delay, seizures, feeding difficulties, respiratory problems, motor dysfunction and/or mental retardation.
As his condition demonstrated a wide range of severities and was individual to each child they could not tell them any more other than to “wait and see”.

The Hemiplegia that Corbin had, would almost certainly mean he would have limited use of the left side of his body.

Corbin’s family were shell shocked.

After 10 days in hospital, Corbin was discharged on a cocktail of anti-convulsant drugs including Phenobarbitone, Vigabatrin and steroids, and with a saturation machine to help his parents monitor his oxygen levels during long seizures.

  As there is no available treatment to correct the abnormality in his brain, the focus for Corbin’s future would be one of
  controlling his seizure symptoms and continual physiotherapy and portage therapy to increase his movement range on his
  paralysed left side, and to simulate this general development through special teaching.

  In the early months, drug treatment involving steroids showed the best improvement in Corbin’s seizures but as they were
  under control, the doctors added another drug called Topirimate.

  At 8 weeks old, Corbin had telemetry (long duration EEG) performed at GOSH. This revealed
  that Corbin’s seizures were infantile spasms but later EEG’s suggest that he appears to have
  outgrown these.

At GOSH Corbin had a PET scan performed to identify where in the brain his seizures were coming from.

This scan revealed that his seizures were originating from 2 loci on the right side of his brain – this was consistent with the location of
the abnormal development and made Corbin a candidate for brain surgery giving him the chance of stopping his seizures completely.

  2 options were discussed:

1) A hemispherectomy (where they would remove the whole right side of his brain) or
2) A focal resection/lobectomy (where they remove the affected areas only) .

However, when the doctors saw Corbin at his surgery appointment, he was 9 months old and having a good day. He was babbling and sitting up and holding his head well.
The doctors had concerns that surgical intervention only had a 70% chance of success and seeing Corbin so “apparently well” they decided that surgery was not the right choice for him at the moment.

He was sent home and hi parents were told to “see how he went”.

  At 18-20 months Corbin took his first steps – his parents where overwhelmed – they had never expected him to achieve this
  milestone.

Corbin has progressed developmentally albeit more slowly than normal.
At aged 4 Corbin is estimated developmentally a 15-18 month old baby.

During good periods Corbin has grasped the ability to repeat a few basic words however his speech is intermittent and at present he is not able to communicate through speech.

He can communicate through indicating what he needs with his hands and is generally a happy, smiley little boy
who knows what he wants.

He can be cheeky at times and his current trick is hiding things in the washing machine!

Corbin can walk well although he has a slight limp on his left side, and he can use his arms although his left side is weaker than his right
side.
He wears a neoprene vest and wristband to aid his trunk control which in turn helps his core stability and thus improves his sitting
and walking.

Corbin has received regular portage (special needs teaching) since a young age and since September 08 he has been attended Brooklands Special Needs School in Reigate. Both these activities have led to a marked improvement in Corbin’s development.

  At aged 4, repeated EEG’s have shown that Corbin may have started having seizures on the left side of his brain as well as the right. His seizures are currently
  being controlled with a combination of Epilim, Keppra & Phenobarbitone.
  Corbin’s seizures range from 2 on a good week to 10 or more on a bad week and his seizures always increase in frequency when his becomes ill.

Corbin’s current daytime seizures involve him freezing still and then falling over so he wears a crash helmet when he is on hard surfaces, and on waking from sleep he may have generalised tonic-clonic seizures.

Recently Corbin has had a problem with severe lethargy which was put down to low iron levels, and now that he is receiving supplements he is a much more energetic little boy.

Corbin’s big sister Siobhan has handled having a “special” brother with incredible maturity for her age, and she is a tremendous support for the whole family with day to day tasks involved in looking after a child with special needs. Corbin adores his big sister!

Corbin is doing really well at the moment but the long term future with his condition is uncertain. The hardest thing for Corbin’s parents is seeing him trying to do things that other little boys do but just not being able to.

Outwardly, they deal fantastically with having a special child like Corbin.

Corbin's mum Tara can be contactd on: taraeggplant@hotmail.com