as hiroshi's friends joined in-- to help in his recovery. they put together a benefit concert upstairs at the raleigh times bar.. it's a gathering hiroshi...or hiro as he's known...used to co-host with his playing in his honor. with each strum.. donations poured in. dozens packed raleigh times in downtown raleigh to rally around fellow bluegrass musician hiroshi arakawa. the rising star in the local music scene...was critically injured in a thanksgiving night crash. his girlfriend...juana maria cardona- alvarez...was killed. absolutely incredible the amount of love and support that's come through the bluegrass community hank smith is coordinating recovery efforts through 'beer and banjos'...an event he and arakawa used to host together. 17:59:27..i was crushed. i was one of the first people to get a call because the first responders and police had a hard time finding family since he only spoke japanese arakawa's parents flew in from japan to be with their son...now in a lung and broken ribs. 18:06:58..it's a very serious condition right now

year-old juana maria cardona- alvarez and her 25-year-old boyfriend and rising bluegrass musician, hiroshi arakawa...also known as hiro. the pair were hit by 18-year-old driver nicholas alberto rivera-rubio -- traveling at hour. the accident left cardona- alvarez dead, and sent arakawa to wakemed icu. leaving friends and family in disbelief. "thanksgiving is a really big holiday for travel and i always worry about family and friends being safe. and i think my first reaction was just shock." friends tell us, cardona-alvarez and arakawa had just left a thanksgiving dinner and were headed to knightdale to finish the evening with family -- unfortunately, they never made it. both were in the visas and met while attending wake tech. "he's been in pretty serious condition so i know he's probably unaware of anything that's happened to her right now. but i know it's going to hit him pretty hard." arakawa was a rising gem in the bluegrass scene and moved from japan to raleigh to play music. his friends calling him a "rare talent." "it's a really special story. this is somebody who came here to learn