Jason Barnes-Cleveland Clinic Bound

My 46 year old son, Jason Barnes, lives with an irreversible spinal cord injury, resulting in a rare nerve condition, Cauda Equina.  His doctors advised  that his condition, (the result of nerve root endings compressed by a disk), is permanent and he is facing a life of severe chronic nerve pain. At most, he is no longer able to work more than a few hours a week,(his doctors are amazed that he manages to work at all),  and he is on social security disability.  Additionally, Jason has Cerebral Palsy related spinal stenosis and degenerative disk disease.  Since his spinal injury, the only treatment offered has been a spinal fusion, spinal cord stimulator, implanted at Duke Medical Center 18 months ago, (which offers minimal relief) and prescription opiates which do not provide significant relief and have long term health implications.
As a family, (Jason is married and has an 11 year old daughter and 13 year old son), his chronic pain has impacted their lives both financially and emotionally and his quality of life is very low. Chronic pain is a known family condition.

Due to the serverity of his condition, Jason has been accepted into the 4 week Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland Ohio, the only comprehensive program of its type in the U.S.  
A team of medical professionals will create a personalized comrehensive plan to teach him how to better manage his pain and increase his quality of life.   His wife and children will also be required to participate in 1 or 2 two-day training sessions to adjust to living with a dad/husband with chronic pain and learn how to support him effectively.  To date, over 1,000 Chronic Pain patients have been served through this world class hospital Program.

Jason will return to the Cleveland Clinic in July for further evaluations and subsequently start the Chronic Pain Program  7 weeks later.  Due to his condition, he is not able to make a 8-9 hour car trip and has to fly to Cleveland for visits/treatment. Since it is an out-patient Program, Jason will have to stay in a hotel, pay for his meals, taxi's, air fare, incidentals, and insurance co-pays for the duration of his  stay.  He will also lose any work-related income during his 30 day therapy and treatment.  Additionally, his wife and two children are required to fly to Cleveland 1 or 2 weekends to attend the family portion of the Program.  The total estimated out-of-pocket cost for Jason and his family to participate  is $10,000.  Due to the financial hardship already placed on him, he is unable to pay for any of the above expenses.  I am on social security and offer pet sitting to supplement my own income and am limited in my ability to offer much help financially. 

Jason, is a wonderful dad, husband and friend, always ready to help a neighbor, his church, a co-worker or friend when he can, in spite of his chronic pain condition. Several of our mutual friends encouraged me to establish a GoFundMe account to enable my son to seek the only option available that might help to make life better for him and his family.

I will manage the GoFundMe account on Jason's behalf.
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.