Many of you probably know Dave Schelske from his involvement in the sport as well as photography. He has shot for Honda, Yamaha, and many others over the years. His pictures are breathtaking.

Last Thursday night at PIR, our great friend was badly injured while taking photos at PIR. He was on the infield about 25 feet from the track with his back turned when a rider lost control, flew off the track, and hit Dave from behind. It shattered his right hip and broke his right shoulder. He has been in the hospital since that night and will be having two (I think, at least one) surgeries this week.

As you can imagine, Dave's medical expenses will be astronomical. In addition to that, his $5000 camera was destroyed and he was already paying off medical expenses from a significant surgery that one of his kids had just recently had. As it will be months before he is in any shape to work, his work as a freelance photographer will be halted as well, so he will have little to no income.

I challenged our members (NWDR) as well as ThumperTalk (http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=816742) members to pledge money to help Dave by starting out with my own $100 donation. We have received several donations so far and, as of writing this, are now at $600!! If you have any ability to help a great guy and fellow rider, please do so. I'm fielding the incoming donations for our group as well as those on ThumperTalk and I'm happy to do the same here. I can accept cash or check in person (on the west side of PDX metro) or via mail (I can PM you my address) or you can make a PayPal payment to me at: [email me at echo _at _ nwdirtriders.com to get my PayPal account ]

We are also trying to arrange a raffle or garage sale as well and we may have donations booths at some local races. Any amount that you can donate will help, even if it's just $10. It all adds up.

Thank you.

http://www.nwdirtriders.com/2009/08/22/nwdr-member-seriously-injured-help-dave-schelske-nw-scout/

Thanks for posting this Echo, between NWDR, ADV and TT we have raised almost $1000 to go towards his medical bills, camera or whatever he chooses. Dave underwent his first surgery yesterday and will go back under the knife on Thursday I believe. He is in good spirits even though he will likely be in the hospital for two weeks and unable to ride for about 1.5 years the doc said. If anyone is looking for a very clean Husky with some trick parts contact Dave, Echo or myself. He is selling the bike to help with expenses, he will likely not be working for many many months.

07 Husky TE 450
street legel
i bought new in oct of 07 from bend.
3.9 gal ims tank and the stock
front, rear disc guard
hand guards
stock headlight and 8 inch trail tec
stock motor and suspension.
guessing around 1,500 miles
great condition with lots of TLC, as i was planing on keeping this bike for a very long time.

$4,700

I dropped of a donation jar (okay, really it's more of a plastic jug/jar container thing) at Beaverton Honda today. It's on the cashier counter, so if you're in there buying something please kick a few dollars or your change into the jar to help Dave out.

Also, we have more sponsors signing on to help with the raffle. If you know of a company that would like to sponsor the raffle by donating prizes in exchange for advertising, please let me know. Details to come on where to buy tickets and what the prizes will be. Thanks!

We're up to $1130 now and we still have the raffle to do. So far now donations from ORMA members (unless they did it through NWDR or TT). I'd love to see some support here too. I think many of you probably know Dave.

Is Dave able to accept visitors? If so, when/where?
thanks,
-Tom

He is able to have visitors, but he requests that you call first. For security reasons, I'm not going to post where he is exactly (or his phone number).

We're up to $2137.91 thanks to some great donations and a pretty successful night selling raffle tickets at PIR last Thursday night. We'll be out there again this week.

Echo wrote:

We'll be out there again this week.

$5.00 for 1 ticket... $20.oo for 5 tickets.


We've got some good stuff donated to us... THANK YOU SPONSORS!


Come out and buy some raffle tickets ~ please!


Drawing toward the end of the month, you do not have to be present to win.

Tawmass wrote:

If so, when/where? thanks, -Tom

He has been in a rehabilitation center closer to home since last Friday 09-04-09.



As always, amazing as it is... he is in good spirits.

I've updated the Help Dave page with the full list (as of right now) of raffle prizes! We hope to see you out at PIR Thursday night. Come buy a handful of tickets for your chance to win some GREAT prizes...over $3200 worth so far!

http://www.nwdirtriders.com/helpdave/

I had lunch with Dave today at the rehab facility and he's doing really well so far, although the physical therapy is going to be a very long and painful road. He's hoping to be going home from the rehab facility on Friday or Saturday, although he'll be far from mobile even at home.

Man, tonight was DEAD at PIR. Still, we raised $105 and sold 12 raffle tickets. Every little bit helps. Hopefully it will pick up next week and be REALLY BIG the last week.

We are up to: $2262.03

Keep up the great work and donations, everyone! Thanks!

I was able to stop in and have a nice visit with Dave last night and was a hero for bringing him a cherry-Coke Slurpy. For the Hell he's going through, he's in amazingly good spirits. Check out the gnarly zippers he's sporting! He could only move enough to show me the big cajone on his hip, but if you look close, you can see the start of the other one starting down his right leg. The one on his hip is waaaaayyyy too close to the twigs and berries for comfort! While I was there, he showed me his latest photo work he was doing with Yamaha for their upcoming brochures. Dave's photos have always kicked arss, and the work he showed me is nothing short of stunning - especially from my viewpoint as an amateur photographer.

Dave hopes to escape the facilities he's currently at today and finally go home. We need to rally as a community and help him out in any way possible, as we are all one big, happy family, and we need him out taking photos of everyone again! On the optimistic side, check out the hottie nurse he has watching over him - his luck is changing for the better!
-Tom

I would have the same look on my face if she was my nurse too.

Thanks for going to see Dave and for posting up to help show people what he's going through, Tawmass. I really appreciate it. I know that Dave would help and donate money to any one of us if we needed it. It's amazing how many people I've talked to throughout this fund-raiser that have said, "I never donated or I donated very little to other people when they were hurt. Then I got hurt. Now I give as much as I can because I know what it's like from the other side."

Every little bit of money and effort helps and Dave needs it. Thanks for everyone's help and support!

Hey

Boy do I look sexy! No shower for 3 weeks will do that to ya

Thanks for stopping by Tom. Always good to have someone to chat with. Time passes by mighty slow when you cant move and are stuck in bed 22 hr out of the day. BORING!!!

Big thanks to Echo for all your time and hard work at fundraising. My family and I appreciatate it more than you can ever know.
Knowing we have friends like you remind us how lucky we truly are. Thank you for everything

Here is a little flyer I did for the raffle that Kenny has put together.
When I am all better I will be able to shoot the moto portfolio or do family portraits if the winner in a non moto type.
Should be a fun shoot for the winner, and will be good for me to get back out there shooting pics of the sport I love so much.



Dave