Angelo Tursi

Six months ago, I bought a $30 loom on Amazon. I had no idea that it was going to become one of the things keeping me sane. Last year, I was hit by a truck in a hit-and-run. My femur was broken, my right foot and ankle were badly injured, and my life changed completely. I have not been able to return to work. I lost a great deal of independence, and I have spent much of the past year dealing with pain, physical limitations, and the question of what my life is supposed to look like now. Then I started weaving. For the past seven months, I have woven almost every single day. I bought that little loom because I was curious. I had no idea that I would become this serious about it, or that it would give me something I had been desperately missing since the accident. Weaving gives my days structure. It gives me something to work toward. More than anything, it helps with my pain. When I am deeply focused at the loom, there are stretches of time when my body stops occupying the center of my attention. My loom broke today, and I am devastated. I have pushed a $30 beginner loom far beyond what it was built to do. In seven months, I have gone from knowing almost nothing about tapestry weaving to spending most of my waking hours designing and making work. I have completed multiple pieces, developed my own visual language, and started trying to build a serious artistic practice that could eventually help me support myself. I have clearly reached the point where I need a real loom. The loom I am trying to buy is a 22-inch Mirrix Zach Loom, a professional tapestry loom that costs $405. With shipping, taxes, and fees, the total comes to $470.86. I am setting the fundraiser goal at $475 so that, if I reach it, I can order the loom and get back to work. I know $475 may sound like a lot of money for a hobby. Weaving has gone far beyond that in my life. This is the work I am trying to build my future around. Since the accident, I have not been able to work in the way I did before. I have struggled to get disability support, and money has been extremely tight. I cannot afford to replace the loom myself, especially with the kind of loom I now need. I have spent seven months building skill, momentum, and a body of work. For the first time since the accident, I feel that I have found something I can realistically devote myself to and possibly grow into a source of income. There is also a more personal truth behind this fundraiser: weaving has become one of the main ways I cope with the life I have now. It occupies my mind. It gives me a reason to get up and begin something every day. It has helped me through pain and through the grief of losing the life I had before the accident. So losing the loom has hit me hard. I need to get back to work. Any contribution would help me replace it and continue weaving. Sharing this fundraiser would also mean a great deal to me. I am deeply grateful to everyone who has followed my work, encouraged me, and helped me believe that this could become something real.

My name is Angelo. In April, I was hit by a truck in a hit and run while riding my bike. Since that day, I have been in a wheelchair recovering from a displaced intertrochanteric femur fracture, unable to walk or work. I am now living with my sister in Arizona, recovering from this fracture, a painful screw complication in my knee, and months of delayed physical therapy that were disrupted by that complication. During my first months of recovery I tried to do physical therapy in Louisiana. Every time I attempted to put weight on my leg, I felt intense pain in my knee. After months of this, doctors finally discovered that one of the screws from my original surgery was protruding through the bone and pressing into a muscle. That screw stayed in my body from April until October, which meant that meaningful progress in therapy was nearly impossible for that entire period. The screw has now been removed, I have moved in with my sister in Arizona for family support, and I am preparing to begin a new round of physical therapy here while I remain in a wheelchair and unable to earn an income. I am starting this new GoFundMe with an $8,000 goal to cover the most urgent part of my recovery while I am still disabled and waiting on disability decisions. This support gives me a basic foundation for the next stretch of healing and survival. How the funds will be used The $8,000 goal is meant to cover several months of essential costs, including: Basic living expenses and my contribution to the household where I stay with my sister Food and groceries so I can support my body through ongoing recovery from major trauma and surgery Rides to medical and physical therapy appointments, since I use a wheelchair and cannot simply travel on my own Essential home medical equipment that can help me maintain strength and mobility between therapy sessions Help toward existing medical debt from the accident, surgeries, imaging, and follow-up care With no ability to work and disability decisions still pending, these are the gaps that I cannot fill on my own right now. This fundraiser is focused on the next phase of recovery. The goal is to keep my basic needs covered, keep me in a stable environment with my sister, and make sure I can attend physical therapy and use home equipment that supports real progress. I am doing everything I can within my limits, including relocating for family support and preparing to engage fully with therapy now that the screw has been removed. Your support helps me stay financially stable enough to keep going. Every contribution, in any amount, turns into time in therapy, food on the table, and a little less pressure on a body and mind already carrying a lot. I am deeply grateful for anyone who donates or shares this campaign while I move through this long recovery.