A thief is making it harder for a woman with a severe disability to get to work. And now friends are trying to raise money to get her back on the road.

Bridget Kuhlman has cerebral palsy. She can’t drive and walking any distance is a strain.

So Kuhlman rode a special 3-wheel bike to her job at Arby’s on 1st Avenue S.E.

She parked her bike next to the restaurant’s fenced-in dumpster area in full view of the drive through window.

Nothing happened for two years until last Friday when someone snipped the lock and rode off. Now her friends are trying to make it right with a fund raiser to get her a new bike.

Kuhlman says she was devastated last Friday when she got off work and found her bike gone.

“I was very shocked and I lost it. I was crying because I’m like what am I going to do,” she said.

But that shock eventually turned to elation when she learned her boss at the fast food restaurant was organizing a fund drive to buy her a new 3-wheeler.

“Yes, I lost my bike and yes it’s not right. But I’m glad I have a boss who got it started even with her own family,” Kuhlman said.

Arby’s store manager Angie Takes launched a Go Fund Me page called “Bike for Bridget” with her own family making the first contributions.

The hope is to do better than the used pawn shop 3-wheeler that someone swiped.

Takes says she hopes to get a bike with more back support to make pedaling easier for Bridget and lights for riding at night. Certainly, she plans to buy a better bike lock.

“Bridget goes to the laundromat with her bike. She does everything with her bike. She has two dogs and gives them rides on her bike. It was something I had to do,” Takes said.

Bridget says nobody saw the bike disappear so she doesn’t know what happened or when. All she knows is she’d like the freedom to move about again. And that means getting another bike she can ride.

Those interested in helping can visit her Go Fund Me page here: