ANN ARBOR -- Larry Prout Jr. has been beating all odds since the moment he was born.

And now, he's officially a member of Michigan's football family.

Prout, a 15-year-old from Howell, was born with spina bifida, choacal extrophy, massive omphalocele, short gut syndrome and several other illnesses that have resulted in more than 90 surgeries during his young life.

He's battled through every one of those surgeries and served as a symbol of inspiration, strength and perseverance for his entire family and basically anyone who has come in contact with him during his life.

On Tuesday, Jim Harbaugh, quarterback John O'Korn, running back De'Veon Smith and a host of other Michigan football players welcomed Prout to the Wolverines during Team IMPACT's "Draft Day" ceremony.

"I've listened to many speeches made by the Michigan football staff and professors," Prout said Tuesday. "Mr. Jack Harbaugh made a great speech on why any recruit should come to the University of Michigan. He used three of coach Bo Schembechler's words. He said it's because of the team, the team, the team.

"My team and world has been the Univerity of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's hospital since the day I was born. ... (I want to thank everyone) for giving me this chance ... Go blue."

Team IMPACT -- a Boston-based non-profit organization -- has a mission to "improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses through the power of team."

Harbaugh and several Michigan players have been involved with the organization since Harbaugh took over the football program nearly two years ago.

Through the program, Prout met several Michigan players over the summer -- and became close with both O'Korn and Smith.

From there, a relationship began with Prout and his entire family -- leading right up to Tuesday's ceremony.

"Larry's a great guy. He has a great family and we're real happy today. Our team just got bigger," Harbaugh said. "That's a very important thing for us. It's an honor to share our sideline with Larry. He's been to two games so far this year, we've won them both.

"We'll all be members or clients of the health care system at some point in our lives and we wish most of those surgeries would be saved up for people who have already grown up. Larry's faced over 90 surgeries ... that's probably a record. We feel like we're drawing the long straw on this one to have Larry part of our team. To Larry and his whole family, welcome aboard. ... You're an inspiration to all of us."

Since 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 1,000 children with more than 400 colleges and universities across the country.

For more information on the organization, visit the group's official site here.