John Furness and his wife, Anne
John Furniss, known on TikTok as 'The Blind Woodman', has become an inspiration to his 1.8 million followers, sharing his projects and talking openly about his mental health struggles and he couldn't do without his wife his for seven years. . , that.
“He helped me reach my full potential in life,” Furness, who lost his sight as a teenager after a near-fatal suicide attempt, told PEOPLE.
Furness, 41, took her first woodworking class in nearly 25 years at her family's vocational rehabilitation program after "losing her way." After meeting Ani, this passion turned into work.
"We're a good team," he said of his co-creators.
Related: Man thinks it's 1993 when he wakes up from an accident, later recovers and proposes to his wife again.
Growing up in Colorado and then Wyoming, where her family moved when she was 13, was a challenge for Furness. "I always felt like I didn't fit in, but this move made my anxiety worse," she says.
"I don't want to live anymore, I'm done," she said this morning on the way to her brother's wedding in Utah. At 16, Furness put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
Furness wakes up in a Wyoming hospital bed with a bandaged head, haunted by hallucinations of her wandering around her high school and washing dishes at her restaurant. When he tried to open his eyes, everything was dark.
"I heard a doctor say, 'You're blind,'" Furness recalled. The doctor explained that Furness, who had been shot in a suicide attempt a few days earlier, had lost her sight. "Pain is inevitable," Furness said.
John Furness Furniture Year
A real shock to face his new visionless reality. As an adult, he moved from dorm to dorm and developed an addiction to methamphetamine, eventually selling the drug. In the early 2000s, he hit rock bottom: a near-fatal sinus infection and a criminal conviction for conspiracy to distribute marijuana, which was eventually pardoned in 2019.
He said: "Either I will go to my father and ask for help, or I will die."
RELATED: The man who lost his wife to a long-time marriage activist over the coronavirus helped her cry at a beautiful sunset wedding
During the vocational program, John worked in a carpentry shop with a teacher who was also blind. This experience changed his life. "I found what I do best," he says. "It gave me a whole new direction."
Have a great story the world needs to know? Send details to love@people.com for your chance to participate in Real-Life Love , People.com's series dedicated to sharing extraordinary connections and heartfelt moves.
Furness enrolls in the Washington School of Piano Technology for the Blind, where he learns how to tune the piano, and most importantly, meets Annie, a volunteer who accidentally touches his hand.
It was Annie who in 2016 took a picture of her mother's stairs and uploaded it to Facebook, where people flooded the comments with the same question: Where do you sell your work? "Nobody knows who I am without it," Furness said.
Related: Man thinks it's 1993 when he wakes up from an accident, later recovers and proposes to his wife again.
The pair eventually launched a business (furnissstudios.com), where Annie painted her stuff and they used TikTok to showcase their work.
With Anni's social media skills, Furniss has become a TikTok sensation, inspiring and captivating her followers with her "magic hands" (as one 9-year-old fan puts it) and using her videos as a way to talk about mental health issues. .
John Furness Furniture Year
To learn more about the Furniss story, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, On Sale Friday, or subscribe here .
Furness said her client was a lifesaver. He said: "I want to thank you for helping me realize my dream." Furness says the person who helped him the most to achieve his dreams was his wife.
"I think it's an angel visiting Earth in secret," said Annie. Although Furness disagrees, she believes there is a lesson to be learned from all of this: "I had to be blind," she says, "to do what I have to do here."
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please call the SAMHSA Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
