Jason's Fight for Sight

Our son, Jason Goddard, is 35 years old and has been legally blind his entire life, which means his vision is less than 20/200. We live in historic St. Marys, South East Georgia where Jason loves spending time at our lovely riverside park. He loves beading, which he learned at the Georgia Lions Camp for the Blind that he attended for many years and eventually became a Camp Counselor. Largely by feel, Jason designs and creates bracelets and necklaces that he will truly never be able to visually appreciate. Still he occasionally sells his jewelry, branding his creations Blindingly Beautiful Designs. Jason’s unique craftsmanship can be found under that title on Facebook. He worked for Amazon until he could no longer read well enough to perform his job. Jason was forced into a disability retirement (2019) when his surgeon advised us that he would have to undergo a cornea transplant. In spite of the transplant, Jason’s vision has drastically declined over the past year. The cornea transplant has begun to fail and Jason is rapidly losing his vision. His previous surgeon has given up; that’s it, get a white cane and learn to adapt to a life without sight. Throughout Jason’s life we’ve been told over and over again that there is no hope, well forget that. We refuse to accept that way of thinking, Jason deserves so much more. We’ve always told him that if you really want to do something, FIND A WAY and that’s our family motto. A detailed account (meaning a really long article covering the entire 35 year story) of our experiences with Jason and the problems we’ve faced along the way. A wonderful surgeon has now come into our lives, Dr. Stephen Hamilton, Eye Care Associates of Atlanta. He is known for thinking out of the box; improving, restoring as well as to maintain the best visual acuity for  his patients by whatever means necessary. Dr. Hamilton has begun the initial process of what will eventually be numerous surgeries, first concentrating on the right eye which is at the most advanced stage of deterioration. Dr. Hamilton has advised us that the first step is an IRIS TRANSPLANT. The surgery was only FDA approved within the last year. Because the surgery is no longer experimental, insurance companies including Medicare have recently begun to approve the surgery. Jason has Medicare however recently we were notified that he will soon lose that insurance coverage beginning in November 2020, due to the usual Social Security screw-ups that they’re known for all over the US. Insurance companies are currently not sure what code to assign the surgery so that it can be evaluated for approval. It could take many months, if not a year or more to get the approval for Jason’s surgery. Simply put, time is one thing that Jason doesn’t have. Dr. Hamilton has advised us in order to begin the process of obtaining an iris for transplant; we need $8,000.00 as soon as possible; however, that doesn’t begin to cover the actual expenses of multiple trips. 350 miles one way from St. Marys to Atlanta which will be required for pre-op testing, food and a hotel to stay several days for starters; then there will be the surgery itself and at that time we’ll have to remain in Atlanta for up to eight weeks to be close to the doctor for post-op care and in case of emergencies, possible immediate rejection and/or any complications that may arise. After Jason heals from the iris transplant, there will be lens replacement surgery and eventually another cornea transplant to follow. That’s just for the right eye, they come in pairs you know and the left eye will require the same surgeries with possibly the exception of a replacement lens. So we hope to raise approximately $18,000.00 to start, this will allow Dr. Hamilton to obtain an iris and schedule the transplant as soon as possible. It sounds like a fortune to us. But any loving parent would go to the ends of the earth for their child and likewise we will do whatever it takes to improve and maintain Jason’s vision. We will be eternally grateful for any donation and please share the story with family and friends. Jason’s mom (he’s a self proclaimed momma’s boy), Valerie Goddard, will handle the donated funds which will go into Jason’s account for use as needed. Thank you and God Bless everyone who generously makes a contribution.