A longtime friend of a man injured in the Cat Tracker bus accident has started a benefit fund in his college buddy’s name.

Hays resident Andy Stanton started the Chris Orr Benefit Fund this week to raise money for Orr, 34, who was critically injured when he struck an overpass while standing atop the Cat Tracker fan bus.

The bus was on its way to the Kansas-Kansas State football game Nov. 18 in Lawrence.

“There wasn’t much I could do,” he said, explaining those helpless feelings after he heard about the wreck from a friend.

But after talking to Orr’s wife, Stacey, they decided to set up a benefit fund to help pay for the couple’s mounting bills.

Orr has been hospitalized at Kansas University Hospital in critical condition since the accident, and has undergone brain surgery to help relieve swelling.

Stanton has known Orr since the late ’80s when the two met in the student publication labs at Fort Hays State University.

Orr’s family has been waiting and praying, Stanton said. He hasn’t been awake since his injury, Stanton said, but has started to respond to touches and sounds.

“There haven’t been any major setbacks since the brain surgery,” he said. “We’re just taking it day by day, step by step.”

The fund is based out of Sunflower Bank locations in Colorado and Kansas, including the Lawrence location at 4831 Quail Crest Place.