James Quigg

NDN’s story is now in The Azle News—please help us reach more hearts The Azle News has published NDN’s story, “Holding on to hope — and home.” We’re grateful to Ashley Terry for taking the time to listen and help our community understand what NDN and his family are facing. Read the article here: https://www.theazlenews.com/article/2100,holding-on-to-hope-and-home NDN is living with terminal liver failure and debilitating chemical sensitivities. Our hope is to help bring his mortgage current so he can remain at home with his boys, with less financial worry and more time together. Our first $6,000 milestone is an important step toward the campaign’s $19,000 overall target. Every donation helps us move closer. If you’re able, please consider giving. If you’ve already donated, thank you—and please keep sharing. Sending the article and fundraiser to your friends, church, workplace or community could introduce NDN’s story to someone who wants to help. This is what community fundraising can make possible: people coming together to help a family through something they cannot carry alone. Thank you for standing beside NDN and his boys. Donate or share the fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ndn-gardner-spend-his-final-days-at-home

Just $85 from halfway—please help us take the next step As of September 8, 30 donations have brought NDN’s campaign to $2,915. We are just $85 away from $3,000—halfway to our first $6,000 goal. Thank you to everyone who has donated, shared, or reached out with encouragement. The need continues, and every gift helps us move toward catching up on the mortgage arrears and keeping NDN and his family at home together. If you are able to give $5, $10, or any amount that works for you, it will make a difference. Seventeen gifts of $5 would close that next $85 gap. We are grateful that the Azle News article is expected tomorrow, September 9, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article is expected later this week. We will share the links when the stories are published. If you have already donated, thank you—you can help again without giving more. Please share this campaign with one person and add a sentence about why NDN’s story matters to you. A personal invitation can help someone new connect with the family behind this fundraiser. Our first $6,000 goal is a step toward the larger need. Let’s reach halfway and keep going, together. With gratitude, James Quigg

A $500 Surprise Grant—and We’re Nearly Halfway We received wonderful news: GoFundMe.org’s Essentials Fund made a $500 surprise donation to NDN’s campaign. This generous gift brings us to $2,915—49% of our first $6,000 goal—with 30 donations. It is deeply encouraging to see real and growing support surrounding NDN and his family. NDN is living with a rare skin disorder and terminal liver failure. He can no longer work, and we are urgently trying to protect the home he shares with his sons from foreclosure. Every donation helps bring the mortgage closer to current and gives this family greater security during an unimaginably difficult time. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram also interviewed NDN in person, and an article about his story is expected next week. More people are beginning to hear his story, but we still need everyone’s help to keep the momentum growing. If you can donate, please open your heart and help. If you have already donated—or cannot donate right now—please continue sharing. One share may place NDN’s story in front of the person who can make the next breakthrough possible. Thank you to GoFundMe.org’s Essentials Fund and to every person who has donated, shared, prayed, or offered support. You are showing NDN and his sons that they are not facing this alone.

Nearly halfway to our first goal—thank you Because of your generosity, we’re nearly halfway to our first goal of $6,000. Every contribution brings us closer to catching up on NDN’s mortgage arrears and helping him remain at home with his sons. His story is reaching more people, too. The Azle News has interviewed NDN for an article expected soon, and we’re coordinating with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for an in-person interview. We hope these opportunities help more people understand the person—and the family—behind this fundraiser. This is what GoFundMe is about: people coming together to help someone through a hardship too heavy to carry alone. NDN is a good man facing an incredibly difficult chapter, and our hope is to give him more time focused on his family and less time worrying about losing their home. If you’re able, please open your heart and consider a donation of any size. If you’ve already donated, thank you—and please keep sharing. Adding a few words about why this matters to you can help his story reach someone new. Thank you for showing up for NDN and his boys.

Help NDN’s story reach one more person James “NDN” Gardner’s wish is concrete: to remain in his home. He is a proud Kiowa father of three in Azle. Terminal liver failure has made him unable to work, and he faces foreclosure while trying to remain at home. If you’ve already supported James, thank you. One more way to help is to share this verified fundraiser with someone who may care. Please use the campaign link and keep the story to the confirmed facts. Your support is already deeply appreciated.

Help James “NDN” Gardner Stay Home With His Sons in His Final Days For nearly two years, James “NDN” Gardner has been fighting to keep his life together while his health slowly took away his ability to work. Now he is fighting to keep his home. James is a father of three, a proud Kiowa man, a son, a friend, and one of the hardest-working people I have ever known. For most of his life, James worked. He provided for his family. He took care of the people around him. Then a rare and debilitating skin disorder changed everything. The condition became severe enough that James could no longer work. He applied for disability benefits because his health had taken away his ability to earn a living. He was denied. So he appealed. And waited. And fought. For more than 18 months—now approaching two years—James has been trying to navigate the disability process while living without the income he once earned and watching the bills continue to pile up. But what makes this story even harder is that James wasn't only dealing with his own health. During this same chapter of his life, James was also the primary caregiver for his mother as she battled cancer. Even while his own body was failing him, he was still taking care of someone else. That is who NDN is. He is the person who shows up. He has been my best friend for more than 20 years. He stood beside me as the best man at my wedding. He watched my daughters grow up. Whenever life went sideways and I needed help, James never asked what was in it for him. He simply showed up. And now, after spending so much of his life showing up for everyone else, he needs people to show up for him. Then Everything Got Worse While James was still fighting through the disability process, his health deteriorated further. Then came the diagnosis none of us were prepared for: Terminal liver failure. James went from fighting to regain some stability in his life to confronting the reality that his time may now be limited. And somehow, in the middle of all of this, he is still being forced to navigate disability paperwork, medical care, mounting bills, and the possible loss of his home. His illness has already taken away his ability to work. It has taken away his health. It has taken away the future he thought he had. We are trying to keep it from taking his home too. What We Are Fighting For James's home has fallen into foreclosure. We need approximately $19,000 to bring the mortgage current and stop the foreclosure. This isn't about protecting an investment. It isn't about buying something new. It isn't about making James's life easier. It is about something far more basic. We are trying to give a terminally ill father the dignity of remaining in his own home with his three sons for whatever time he has left. When someone receives a terminal diagnosis, the people who love them should be talking about family, memories, comfort, and making the most of the time that remains. They shouldn't be sitting around a kitchen table trying to figure out how to stop a foreclosure. James doesn't want anything extravagant. He wants to be home. Home with his boys. Home with his family. Home with his friends. Home in the place where his children know their dad. That is what we are fighting to preserve. How Did This Happen? I know there are people who see a foreclosure fundraiser and naturally wonder how someone got this far behind. The answer isn't complicated. James worked until his health would no longer allow him to work. A rare medical condition took away his ability to earn a living. He did what people in that situation are supposed to do: he applied for disability. He was denied. He kept fighting. Months became more than a year. More than a year became nearly two. And while James waited for the disability system to reach a resolution, there was no pause button on his mortgage, utilities, medical expenses, food, or the everyday cost of keeping a family going. Then, before that fight was even resolved, James became terminally ill. This foreclosure isn't the result of someone giving up. It is the result of a man becoming too sick to work while spending nearly two years trying to get the assistance he applied for. We Don't Need One Person to Save His Home We need a lot of people to do something small. If 1,000 people gave $19, we could reach $19,000. If you can give $5, it matters. If you can give $10, it matters. If you can give $19, $25, $50, $100, or more, it matters. Every donation moves us closer to keeping James and his sons in their home. And if you cannot donate, please share this fundraiser. Share it with someone who knows NDN. Share it with someone who worked beside him. Share it with the Ironworkers community. Share it throughout Azle, Springtown, Lake Worth, and the surrounding communities. Share it with members of the Kiowa community. Share it with someone who has spent months or years fighting through the disability process. Share it with someone who has watched cancer or terminal illness change a family overnight. Because one share can reach someone we could never reach ourselves. I Can't Change His Diagnosis There are things I desperately wish I could fix for my friend. I can't give James his health back. I can't erase the last two years. I can't undo his terminal diagnosis. And I can't give him more time. But maybe together we can help determine where he gets to spend that time. Maybe we can make sure he spends it in the home he knows. With his sons. With his family. Surrounded by people who love him. Without the fear that the roof over their heads will disappear at the moment they need it most. Most of you call him a friend. His boys call him Dad. I call him my best friend. And right now, I'm asking people to help me show up for James the way he has spent his life showing up for everyone else. Please donate if you can. Please share if you can't. Even one dollar moves us closer to keeping NDN and his boys in their home. Thank you for helping us show up for NDN the way he has always shown up for us.