it was never meant to be a tragedy, you are the difference.

April Cardwell Start Date: Jul 30, 2025 - End Date: Nov 29, 2025
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Professional Development
  • Louisville, KY, United States of America

My Travel Story

by: April Cardwell Start Date: Jul 30, 2025 - End Date: Nov 29, 2025
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Professional Development



✦ OUR STORY ✦
If you could rewrite a life story, would you choose justice, magic… or tragedy?



Ten years ago, I moved in with my grandparents while going through a divorce. I was meant to stay a few months, but my Nan asked me to stay longer. She was aging and wanted to stay in her home until the very end. I couldn’t say no.
         For the next several years, I cared for them around the clock. My Nan became bed-bound. I was alone in caring for her, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I missed sleep, holidays, friends.. life, but never a chance to bond more with her. 
           Then the vultures came. Family members who hadn’t helped suddenly appeared with accusations: that I was manipulating her. It wasn’t truel, but they didn’t care. Their goal was control. They cornered her in her room and gave her an ultimatum: give up her rights, or throw me and my kids out.
            She said no. She stood up for me. And they left, but they left pissed. 
           A few months later, she died, suddenly, painfully.  I had been the one to call the ambulance bc something seemed off, but no reason for it could be found . I called and checked on her that night. They told me she was fine, but apparently a lot changed overnight.. I wasn’t told she was dying. I didn’t get to say goodbye.
      I got a text 30 minutes after she passed. They were all there... I was an am devastated.                  Then they came again, this time for power of attorney over my grandfather. And this time, they won. He wasn't as strong willed as she was. They used it to evict me, strip us of everything we had packed away, including baby books, photos, family heirlooms and toss it all in a dumpster. We had nowhere to go, and no help coming.
But I stayed, for my Pop, for my kids, for my promise to Nan.
Now, they’ve finally succeeded. We have two weeks to leave.
No support. No savings. No backup.

And this is where you come in.

✦ THE PATH FORWARD ✦
I’m not asking for pity. Im asking for fair. 
I’m asking for a chance to finish what I started:
→ A safe home for me and my kids

→ A chance to build something lasting—a bee farm, a healing space, a legacy

→ The freedom to finally grieve, heal, and breathe
Every dollar you give rewrites a line in our story.
The more we raise, the better the ending.
Will you help choose what kind of story this becomes?
I refuse to believe this is the ending we deserve. 

We’ve lost so much. But we haven’t lost hope.
This isn’t just a campaign to help a mother and her children move,it’s a chance to choose the ending of a long, painful story.
For ten years, I gave everything to care for the people who raised me. I stayed when it broke me. I stayed when they turned on me. I stayed when grief gutted me. And in the end, I was left with nothing. Not even the chance to say goodbye.
But I won’t let that be our ending.
This campaign is about giving my children and me the chance to start again—not just anywhere, but somewhere safe, somewhere sacred, somewhere that reflects how hard we’ve fought to survive with our hearts still open.
You can help decide what kind of story this becomes.
Not with pity. But with justice.
Not because we’re fragile. But because we’ve already proven our strength.
We deserve a life that honors what we’ve lived through.
And maybe you’re the only one who can give it to us.


  • Louisville, KY, United States of America

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