DERRY, NH – Joey Calcavecchia, known on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube as The Roaming Foodie, is hospitalized in serious condition after a four-car crash early Tuesday morning in Andover, Mass.
“He was on his way home after a long day’s work as The Roaming Foodie, doing what he loves and what he does best – exploring restaurants and creating content,” said his sister Jenna Calcavecchia on a GoFundMe site she created. She is hoping to raise $50,000 to cover her brother’s medical expenses; a new car, since his was totaled; camera equipment damaged in the crash, and everyday expenses since he is a freelancer and will be unable to work during his recuperation.
Calcavecchia said Joey remains hospitalized in the ICU at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
“He’s stable but he’s sedated, and on a ventilator,” she said.
As a result of the crash, both of his lungs collapsed, he suffered broken ribs as well as fractured facial bones, and he has a cracked skull. While there is no prognosis yet, Calcavecchia said a team of trauma experts and doctors are monitoring him closely.
Calcavecchia said Joey was on his way home Tuesday after covering a newly opened restaurant in Boston when the crash happened about 2 a.m. on Interstate 93 North in Andover.
Calcavecchia said a deer ran across the highway and was struck by a car, which resulted in chain-reaction collisions with three other vehicles traveling on the highway in the same direction. Joey Calcavecchia’s vehicle was the fourth car hit.
“Thankfully, Joey was still breathing on the scene once found by Massachusetts state troopers and first responders,” she wrote. “It is truly a miracle that Joey is still alive.”
Rescuers had to cut away the wreckage to free him from his vehicle, Calcavecchia said.
He was med flighted to Tufts Medical Center where he remains hospitalized.
A New Hampshire native, Joey Calcavecchia, 36, is a 2006 graduate of Pinkerton Academy and a 2012 graduate of the University of New Hampshire where he earned his bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in nutrition.
He has worked as a food reviewer for a decade. Seven years ago, he created The Roaming Foodie on social media – @the_roamingfoodie – and today has a combined 300,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram.
As The Roaming Foodie, he also does photo shoots for restaurants. His sister said he is “the food connoisseur of New England, always on the search for the most delicious pizza, pasta, burgers, donuts and more. The Roaming Foodie is the cornerstone of food culture in the Northeast and beyond.”
She said her brother also is an avid supporter of local businesses, collaborating with restaurants and hotels across New England as well as with the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and other food influencers.
More recently, he served as a judge for the recently held Miss New Hampshire Pageant.
Calcavecchia describes her brother as being kind, funny, smart, sociable, creative and hard-working.
“For those that know Joey, he is the best son, brother, cousin, uncle, and friend that ANYONE could ask for,” she said.
He is kind, funny, smart, sociable, creative, and hardworking.
Calcavecchia said the family wanted his community of followers to know he was involved in the crash. She said whether any of them contribute to the fund-raiser or not, “we just need their love and support. At the end of the day, just any thoughts and prayers go a long way, too.”