BY LAURELLE WALSH
Andy Johnson, recent operator of Java Man Espresso in Winthrop, is recovering at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane after sustaining injuries in a car accident in the early hours of May 24.
Johnson, 47, of Twisp, went off the road near the intersection of Highway 153 and Lower Beaver Creek Road around 1 a.m. A neighbor, Sarah Gorski, heard the crash and came to Johnson’s aid, applying pressure to his injuries until emergency responders arrived, according to Liz Mascarin, Johnson’s ex-wife.
“I just can’t say enough about what she [Gorski] did for Andy that night,” Mascarin said.
Johnson was taken by ambulance to Mid-Valley Hospital in Omak and then air lifted to Spokane, where he is currently in the Intensive Care Unit at Sacred Heart.
“It’s going to be a very long road for him to get well,” said his mother, Karen Johnson. “But he’s doing a little better each day. He’s in good spirits and still smiles that really great smile.”
His family has started a journal on CaringBridge.com (search for Andrew “Andy” Johnson), so friends can stay informed about Johnson’s condition, said Mascarin.
About a month before the car accident, Johnson suffered a heart attack while mountain biking with a friend. He had been running Java Man (also called Jailhouse Java and previously Java Mama) with intent to own since Jan. 1, 2012, but due to health issues, “his doctor told him not to go back to work” and he was forced to give up the business, according to Mascarin.
Java Man owner and prior operator Merissa Keep took over the business on May 15, and with friends and family pitching in to help, “we have kept the doors open through the entire thing,” said Mascarin. The business is for sale, according to Keep.
Java Man, located at 94 Bridge St., is open seven days a week from 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
