Walking from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management to Grant Auditorium in a span of 10 minutes was painful for Kyle Barnett.

“People would see me walking to class and one of my legs would be giving out,” said Barnett, a sophomore finance and marketing double major. “I’d be falling over, falling down stairs and all.”

Electric shocks, which Barnett began feeling through his legs this July, were side effects of thoracic disk herniations in his spine, causing him to have intense pain in his back and legs. As a result, Barnett will need a thoracoscopic surgery to remove the herniations, which are ruptured disks that sit heavily on his spinal cord.

In an effort to help fund his surgery, Barnett began a campaign on GoFundMe on Nov. 2, a crowdsourcing website that allows groups and individuals to fundraise for any personal or organizational cause.

Barnett’s page went viral. In just one week, he received over $25,000 in donations from more than 300 people. As of Sunday night at 10 p.m., Barnett had raised $25, 470.

“It’s really empowering to know that my story has affected so many people that they would just give me money like that,” Barnett said.

Before coming to school, a doctor in Connecticut initially told Barnett he had sciatica, which involves numbness or tingling in his legs. After Barnett returned to Syracuse University this semester, a cervical MRI done by a second doctor showed some wear and tear that football players can get, as Barnett played football all four years of high school.

But the MRI also showed a minor disk bulge near the thoracic region. The rarity of thoracic herniations prompted the second doctor to approve Barnett for a thoracic MRI two days later. That MRI showed that Barnett had not one, but seven calcified herniations, which means he had them for over a year.

Barnett is currently in his hometown of Wilton, Connecticut, where he is waiting to hear back from specialists about his condition. He can walk, but doctors advised him not to do anything physically strenuous because an accident could potentially paralyze him.

The idea to start the GoFundMe page came from one of Barnett’s high school friends who thought that people would be willing to donate their money to him. Realizing that requiring the work of specialists might be pretty expensive, Barnett decided the next day to “just go for it.”

“Anything to help the financial burden,” Barnett said.

Susan Barnett said her son surprised her and her husband when he told them about the fundraising campaign. She had no idea and was humbled by Barnett’s initiative, as well as the attention the campaign has received. It’s a “beautiful thing” that her son has touched so many lives, she said.

“It’s heartwarming to see that so many people, even people that don’t even know him, are such generous, giving people,” Susan Barnett said. “It gives you hope, and we are just so grateful because we don’t know how much in the end this is going to be. It’s absolutely a blessing.”

Barnett has already seen two neurosurgeons about his rare condition, but has no set date on when he will be receiving the surgery. He hopes to have the surgery done before finals and has been emailing his teachers to keep up with his schoolwork.

Barnett’s father, Mike Barnett, said even though his son has seen two neurosurgeons, all they’ve done is refer him to other people and places.

He added that his family needs someone to give them “a plan of action” and tell them a realistic amount of how much the surgery will cost. He said he has heard of figures ranging anywhere between $150,000 to $500,000.

The process of finding the right doctor for Barnett is taking longer than his father thought. Mike Barnett said the fact that they have not been able to get the surgery set up has been frustrating.

“It’s all hard because we’re not used to feeling so helpless,” Mike Barnett said.

For Emilie Ricco, Barnett’s girlfriend, finding out about Barnett’s situation was scary, but she said she wanted to remain strong for him.

“I wanted to just be positive and keep hope and faith alive in telling him that everything was going to work out and that he has an amazing family to help him and so many people out there that care for him,” said Ricco, a sophomore child and family studies major.

For Susan Barnett, it’s hard to see her son in pain.

Barnett’s situation has consumed their daily lives, and his mother said all she wants is for him to be seen by the proper doctors.

“Watching your son hurting more and more — it’s unbelievable as a parent just to try and keep it together and try to be as calm as possible,” Susan Barnett said. “Normally I’m very good at that because I have a lot of faith, and I know that God’s going to provide the right doctor for him and that everything’s going to be fine.”

Published on November 10, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu