Nick needs your help!

My nephew, Nick, was diagnosed with a mild case of scoliosis at 6 years old. He would see his pediatric orthopedic Dr in Boca for annual x-rays to watch for progression. In 2017, after a growth spurt, Nick's curve had progressed to moderate scoliosis (33 degree curve) which required him to wear a brace to prevent the curve in his spine from getting worse AND appts every six months for x-rays. He wore his brace for 16-20 hours a day for a little over a year as he went through another big growth spurt. In January, they got the news that unfortunately the brace was not working and Nick's curve had progressed to severe scoliosis (57 degree curve). Surgery is the next step, a spinal fusion (2 rods screwed to his spine). Since then, Heather has been doing tons of worrying and research, while making appts for second and third opinions. While she was researching, she found a less invasive spinal surgery that would still allow Nick to grow, keep his flexibility, and live a fairly normal life. This surgery is called VBT (Vertebral Body Tethering). Only 10-15 surgeons in the whole world perform this surgery and the child has to meet a certain criteria. They can't be too skeletally mature and they have to have growth left (which they figure out by doing bending x-rays and a hand x-ray). Heather was lucky in her researching and found a surgeon in Palm Beach that performs VBT and had an appt last week with Nick. They met with Dr. Baynham and had these x-rays done which showed Nick is a great candidate. His spine is showing flexibility and his sanders score (hand x-ray) is showing that Nick still has lots of growth left. The problem with this surgery is that it had only been being performed for about 15 years and has not been FDA approved yet, meaning insurance will not cover VBT due to there being no CPT code to bill the insurance company. This means that the surgeon fees have to be paid up front and out of pocket.  They can't imagine NOT going with VBT. The thought of restricting his growth with rods, putting stress on the fused and unfused vertebrae, thinking of long term issues with spinal fusion is heart wrenching. They want to do what is best for Nick in the long run, and feel that VBT is it! I am setting up this GoFundMe acct so my nephew can live his best life possible. The surgeons up front fees are 25K. Heather has been steadily trying to get information from the insurance company to make sure they will cover the OR fees including general surgeon, anesthesiologists, neurologist (has to be present because of the nerves in the spine), the hospital stay, etc...
Heather has been looking into figuring out how to come up with the 25K, whether it be to sell her vehicle or get a loan, but whatever it is, she is going to make this happen for Nick. I am hoping that with some help from friends, family, our community and anyone willing to help... we can take some of the burden off of her and her family. Everything is greatly appreciated.