One Arm Drummer Jason Needs A Hand

One armed drummer, Jason Barnes needs a hand!

Jason is a recent upper limb amputee in dire need of financial assistance for prostheses. In short term he needs... immediate prosthetic repair estimated to cost $2000.00. In the long term, he needs different prostheses.

After auditioning, Jason was recently accepted into the Atlanta Institute of Music's Drumming Program, in spite of being a one handed drummer. He is just finishing his mid quarter finals. Jason also needs tuition assistance to continue with the drumming program at the Atlanta Institute of Music. His family has not been able to help much. His mother is a single mom with two kids in college and one starting in the fall.

Jason's lifelong dream has been to play music:real music that moves people. He has it in him to do just that. Just because he lost his forearm didn't mean he lost his God given gift. He just has had to get a little more creative and innovative. A.I.M.'s musical program is helping him advance his technical skills and preparing him to become a premier drummer.

Up until his accident, Jason was self employed, cleaning restaurant hoods for a living, while he pursued his musical career playing drums.

But in early 2012, when only 22, Jason's life changed forever. He was electrocuted by high voltage power lines on the roof of a restaurant while cleaning a hood. It is a miracle that he lived through it. The doctors said he shouldn't have. He took over 22,000 volts.

After a month in Grady Memorial hospital burn unit, and five surgeries and skin grafts later, he had to have his forearm amputated. Financially and emotionally, the challenges for him and his family have been enormous. He doesn't qualify for Medicaid as the government does not feel he is handicapped.

Although there are many things he is unable to do for himself that we all take for granted, such as tying a shoe, buttoning a shirt or just opening a can, he is able to play drums with the help of a drumming prosthetic.

When his accident first happened, he was devastated to think that he would never play drums again. But only a few short weeks after his amputation, he was taping a drumstick to his bandaged arm and from there moved on to using a custom drumming prostheses. He has come so very far.

But his bare minimum prostethic devices don't fit any more. Jason is playing constantly with blisters. His strap on his everyday pincher arm is taped together with duct tape, the steel on his pincher hook is cracked and it's days are numbered.

Jason cannot afford the $2,000 for repairs let alone new prostheses. He currently has 2 different prostheses. One for drumming and a pincher hook for everyday use. Both are inadequate and quickly self destructing.

In order to live a full and productive life, it is Jason's need and desire first...to get his existing protheses repaired and then to eventually obtain a new drumming hand and a Bebionic3 Myo-electic hand. He states that he then would almost feel whole again.

What motivates and inspires Jason is the challenge of being able to push through the barriers of beliefs and fears that prevent people from accomplishing their goals and becoming all they can be in spite of the challenges in life. Living life to the fullest!

It is believed by many that know Jason, that through his drumming, and disability, he will shatter the limiting beliefs about what is or isn't possible. Jason's hope and desire is that he will become a living inspiration to others that encounter similar life challenging situations. Jason literally needs a hand to help him become self supporting doing something he loves and is gifted with. and in return he will give back to others in the same situation.

Thank you in advance for helping Jason fulfill his dreams. He is unstoppable.