Enter Aaron Cooke, who started the Athlete Recovery Fund. The non-profit takes donations to help injured professional BMX and freestyle motocross riders and skateboarders.

BMX rider Aaron started the organization after his good friend and fellow pro, Stephen Murray, was injured in last summer’s AST Dew Tour. “He got hurt on Friday, and on Monday, I was trying to find out how to help him raise money and save him some troubles that were definitely to come,” Cooke said.

Though Murray was lucky enough to have insurance, it didn’t cover nearly enough of his medical expenses. That made Cook realize that Stephen was not the only action athlete who would need financial help.

“We need to have money ready for an injury that happens in our sports, rather than the panic of trying to raise money after the fact,” Cooke said.

ARF was able to pay for an air ambulance for recently brain-injured BMX rider Mike Aitken, to fly him home to Salt Lake City from Pennsylvania. It cost $21,900. Aitken has no insurance. He is the fifth athlete ARF has assisted. In July, ARF was able to pay for the family of injured freestyle motocross rider Greg Hartman to fly to his side when he was injured in Cleveland during the Dew Tour’s Right Guard Open.

ARF funds come from thousands of donations of all sizes, made from all over the world. Cooke takes no salary, so nearly all the money goes to injured pro athletes. They don’t even have to be seriously injured.

“Our help is judged on financial need, not the level of injury. for someone who doesn’t have coverage, even $500 may be way out of their budget. In that case, we’re here to help,” Cooke says.

ARF is now trying to help action athletes be considered more insurable. Cooke is busy working with insurance companies and agents to have them be more willing to cover action professionals.

He also says that ARF is supplemental, it’s not meant to replace insurance. Care for an injury like Mike Aitken’s or Stephen Murray’s can cost more than six million dollars, and with today’s economy, raising funds is hard.

As for insurance companies, Cooke says their reluctance is based on fear. “What these athletes do is so amazing that it looks like there’s a huge risk involved. But it’s very rare that there’s a catastrophic injury to an action athlete.”

To support the ARF, visit AthleteRecoveryFund.com.

- by Wina Sturgeon
AdventureSportsWeekly.com

Aitken was seriously brain-damaged and partially paralyzed when he crashed while shooting a video in Pennsylvania on October 5. His sister, Carrie Peterson, is updating Mikey’s blog daily (http://www.mikeaitken.com/blog/) to keep everyone informed of his condition.

In a recent entry, she writes, “I hate to keep reiterating the seriousness of Mike’s condition, but there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding his actual progress. There have been rumors that Mike is walking; unfortunately this is not the case. Mike is still struggling to show any movement on the right side of his body. Beyond this, Mike is still very limitedly conscious. Mike will begin a more rigorous rehabilitation program in SLC. Rehabilitation is aimed at attempting to help Mike recover as much brain function as possible. Whether that is the ability to talk, walk, eat, or even perform basic thought processes. At this point it is hard to say what functions Mike will be able to recover.”

He is somewhat combative, constantly struggling to get out of bed. But he is no longer on a ventilator, and the family no longer has the stress of having to visit him halfway across the country. And, more importantly, they have not given up hope that there will be greater recovery.

Carrie goes on to thank the Athlete Recovery Fund, a non-profit organization set up to help pay the horrendous expenses of injured action sports athletes, who are considered uninsurable by the insurance industry, and thus must compete without coverage in case of an accident. ARF paid for Mikey’s plane home, and is helping arrange benefits all over the country (to donate, go here: http://www.5050bmx.com/).

Now in SLC, Mikey has started physical therapy.  And there is some positive news.

“It has been an amazing morning full of high emotions,” the latest entry reads. “We arrived just in time for Mike’s morning rehab session. When we got to the rehab gym, Mike was asked how many people were in the room with him and he was able to answer. He was then asked to tell the therapist everyone’s names and he was able to give his sister’s and his mom’s name. It was as if Mike suddenly woke up this morning in that gym.”Meanwhile, some of the most moving writing on Mikey’s blog comes in the comments after for each post. One is from an obvious friend serving in Afghanistan, who writes, “Hey Bro, It kills me being so far away from home and not being able to hear the news of your progress every single day. As soon as you’re able I’m calling you up to tell you myself how proud I am of you. Watching you be a dad to Owen has made me so eager to be a father myself. I got some of the guys out here together for a picture to wish you well. They ask about your progress all the time.”

- by Wina Sturgeon
AdventureSportsWeekly.com

cr. Clarke

Also on Saturday, October 25th, but in Boston, three of the best bike shops on the east coast are all coming together to have a benefit jam for Mike. The location is Hyde Park in Boston from 3PM until whenever. 100% of the proceeds goes to support Mike and his family.  There will be a best costume contest and they will be raffling off some signature products from Odyssey, Fit, Lotek, and more. So come support Mikey and help out a fellow rider in need.

As most of you probably already know, Mike Aitken got into a pretty severe biking accident last week.  It’s no surprise to see the BMX community come together to help Mike and his family raise money by countless donations and several benefit jams held in his honor. 

So the guys over at Profile decided that they were going to auction this Hutch Mini Lil Holeshot Frame on Ebay to benefit Mike Aitken and his family as he recovers from his recent crash. Apparently there is good news that Mike is doing little better, you can check out Mike’s blog to check up on his progress.  Read about the goods below. 

About the Hutch: Profile Racing is selling this Vintage Hutch Lil’ Holeshot Mini BMX frame to benefit Mike Aitken’s recovery from his horrific crash. All proceeds from this sale will go to Mike and his family. The frame is in good shape, but it’s by no means NOS. The original decals are still on the frame, but they are a little beaten up. The chrome isn’t perfect, either, but the bike was made in 1982 or 83, so that shouldn’t shock anyone. If you weren’t aware, Profile built frames for Hutch, until there were some shady business dealings and our invoices to him stopped getting paid, so we were left with the last few frames. This is one of the last of those last few, so if you always wanted one of these, here’s another chance. CrMo frame, Euro threaded BB, 1″ headtube.

BMX Dirt rider Mike Aitken, who just last month celebrated a win at the Salt Lake City stop of the AST Dew Tour, was injured in a crash Sunday in Pennsylvania.

Aitken was filming a video part at the Posh trails when he crashed doing a 360 spin.  He suffered multiple injuries, including broken bones in the face and jaw.

Aitken was reportedly disoriented and convulsing when brought to a local hopital and was sedated.  He has yet to regain consciousness though he has suffered an additional seizure and has been diagnosed with bleeds on his brain.

Aitken did not have insurance and a website has been set up to provide updates about his condition and to accept donations for his recovery.

Visit MikeAitken.com to learn more or go to 5050BMX.com to make a donation.

Aitken’s injury again brings to light the dangers of the sport, with Stephen Murray’s accident and subsequent paralysis last year being the highest profile.  The Athlete Recovery Fund (ARF), which was formed earlier this year — partially in response to Murray’s accident — has just been featured in USA Today and will be helping raise money for Aitken.

Bohan and White both scored a 91.92, but thanks to a higher second score Bohan took second-place.  Top qualifier Dennis Enarson and last year’s Toyota Challenge winner James Foster rounded out the top five.

The course was radically different than most AST Dew Tour courses and was designed by Stephen Murray, who was paralyzed after crashing at the 2007 Panasonic Open in Baltimore.   Tim “Fuzzy” Hall, a SLC local, built it.

Ryan Nyquist entered the day on top of the Dew Cup race but two crashes landed him in 11th place and in fourth-place in the Dew Cup standings, 27 points behind Cameron White.  Luke Parslow and Corey Bohan are almost even with Nyquist.

The final stop in BMX Dirt for the 2008 AST Dew Tour takes place on Oct. 17 in Orlando.

Check out the full results below.

Corey Bohan at the 2008 Toyota Challenge

BMX Dirt Final Results – Toyota Challenge
September 12, 2008 – Salt Lake City, UT

1st – Aitken, Mike – 92.08
2nd – Bohan, Corey – 91.92
3rd – White, Cameron – 91.92
4th – Enarson, Dennis – 91.84
5th – Foster, James – 91.50
6th – Ellis, TJ – 90.09
7th – Parslow, Luke – 90.09
8th – Napolitan, Anthony – 88.59
9th – Dosch, Brandon – 88.34
10th – Nastazio, Cory – 88.25
11th – Nyquist, Ryan – 85.50
12th – Guettler, Ryan – 84.33

AST Dew Tour: Dew Cup Current Standings
BMX Dirt Points

1. Cameron White, 303
2. Luke Parslow, 279
3. Corey Bohan, 278
4. Ryan Nyquist, 276
5. James Foster, 264
6. Dennis Enarson, 262
7. Cory Nastazio, 202
8. Ryan Guettler, 201
9. Rob Darden, 172
10. Diogo Canina, 158

BMX Dirt Prelim Results – Toyota Challenge
September 11, 2008 – Salt Lake City, UT

1st – Enarson, Dennis – 93.00
2nd – Aitken, Mike – 92.00
3rd – Guettler, Ryan – 91.83
4th – Bohan, Corey – 91.67
5th – Dosch, Brandon – 91.50
6th – Foster, James – 91.17
7th – Nastazio, Cory – 91.17
8th – Napolitan, Anthony – 91.00
9th – Ellis, TJ – 89.83
10th – Darden, Rob – 89.50
11th – McCann, Steven – 89.33
12th – Cooke, Allan – 87.67
13th – Gerber, Chris – 87.33
14th – Gethard, Brad – 85.50
15th – Bowers, Charlie – 85.33
16th – Canina, Diogo – 84.50
17th – Hall, Tim – 83.00
18th – Wade, Morgan – 81.00
19th – O’hara, Kyle – 80.33
20th – Wirch, Scott – 79.00
21st – Berkheimer, Nate – 78.33
22nd – Mackay, Colin – 75.33
23rd – Aloise, Adam – 74.83
24th – Hult, Josh – 74.17