Friends rally to help injured biker get back on his feet
Motorcyle accident leaves local welder unable to work
By Meg Boberg Special to the Acorn

LAID UP- Simi Valley resident Pat Myhr, 49, sits in the Northridge Hospital bed where he's been confined the past two months since narrowly surviving a motorcycle crash in May. Friends have organized a fundraiser this Sunday at the Junkyard Café in Simi Valley to help raise money to keep Myhr afloat until he can get his welding business up and running again.

Simi Valley resident Pat Myhr may have to celebrate his 50th birthday in the hospital next month.

A May 30 motorcycle accident in Kern River Canyon outside of Bakersfield shattered both his arms, his right foot, hip, pelvis and several vertebrae, and has left the self-employed welder confined to a Northridge Hospital Medical Center bed for the past two months.

In hopes of getting him back on his feet, Evelyn GarfieldLoker, a friend and owner of Junkyard Café in Simi Valley, has joined forces with more than a dozen of Myhr's friends to organize a fundraiser this Sunday at the restaurant at 1750 E. Los Angeles Ave.

Junkyard Café will have a daylong benefit offering cash and raffle prizes donated by local businesses. Twenty percent of the profits will go to fund Myhr's recovery.

"Owning a small business, I know that if something happens like this, you'll get in trouble fast," Garfield-Loker said.

Tony Falato, Junkyard Café's co-owner, is also concerned for Myhr.

"It could have been any one of us. When you own your own small business in this economy, we often are happy to just make ends meet," Falato said. "We are happy to help as much as we can. Pat would do the same for us- that's just the kind of guy he is."

Since the accident, Myhr's friends and family have "flown by the seat of their pants" to manage his business and help pay for treatment, GarfieldLoker said. So far, Myhr, who is single, has accumulated more than $60,000 in medical bills.

Daily physical therapy aims to get Myhr walking again after surgery left pins in his arms and plates in his pelvis.

The owner of Myhr Mobile Welding said he's made progress with his arm and upper-body work, but his legs still look like "wet noodles" from lack of exercise.

"I don't do well with sitting around," said Myhr, who still can't sit up straight for more than 15 minutes at a time. "My plan is to make it back to my shop and get some work going again somehow."

Unfortunately, he will probably have to give up motorcycle riding, his favorite pastime. But the 49-year-old said he will be happy just to walk again and live pain-free.

Longtime biker friend Tony Olszewski gathered vendors to participate in the benefit. While he said Myhr is lucky to be alive after the accident, he knows Myhr faces losing his business if he can't work.

"He's dealing with reality, too, that he might have to fold the business," Olszewski said.

Myhr's younger sister, Renee Frank, has managed his finances since the accident. She said it's touching to see all her brother's friends come to his support.

"If he had his way, he'd walk out of there right now," Frank said. "He worked so hard to do the right thing, be a productive citizen and do what he wants to do, and he's on the verge of losing everything."

Myhr said he probably won't be able to leave the hospital to attend the benefit, but he was pleasantly surprised by his friends' generosity in organizing the event.

"He can be gruff," Frank said with a laugh. "He's had a biker's life. But he has a teddy bear heart and he's a good guy."

For more information or to make a donation to Pat, call the Junkyard Café at (805) 5205865.