Cannonballs for Kayne

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Cannonballs for Kayne

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Cannonballs for Kayne, a pediatric brain cancer and DIPG research foundation, is committed to families, education and funding research for a cure. N.
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Help us by donating today. Founder: Kayne Finley, 1999-2017 Kayne Finley, 17, was diagnosed with DIPG-Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma pediatric brain cancer on November 23, 2016. Follow his journey here.

11/05/2026

💙 Two more Cannonballs Cares Family Assistance Grants are in the mail today! 💙

There's nothing quite like dropping these turquoise envelopes in the mailbox, knowing they're headed to families who could use a little extra support right now.

None of this happens without YOU. Every donation, every share, and every kind word keeps Kayne's light shining and helps us lift up families when they need it most. Thank you for being part of the Cannonballs family.

If you'd like to help us send the next one, tap the Donate button on our page. 🙏

09/18/2026

Some Septembers I show up here often. Some Septembers I need a minute. This one has been the second kind. Days can be long and hard. Posting is emotional. Looking through photos and sharing my heart. Even though it can be tough, sharing Kayne’s story and how we are surviving without him here on earth is important work. September isn’t done, and neither am I. 🩶🥰🩶

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month asks something of every family who has lived it: keep talking. Even when it's hard. Even when you've said his name and her name so many times it results in a cracking voice. Even when the silence would be easier. 🎗️💜💛

So — here I am. Still Kayne's mom. Still fighting for a cure to DIPG. Still asking you to walk this month with me.

If you meant to give this September and it slipped past you, I get it — life is loud. This is your gentle reminder: 🔗 cannonballs.org. Any amount. Any share. Any moment you say his name to someone new. We want Kayne’s voice to continue being heard.

I'm grateful you're here. Thank you. Let's finish this month strong.
Kirsten (Kayne’s Momma)
🙏💛💣💦

📸 Kayne, circa 2017

09/03/2026

Honored to be partnered together in support of the My DIPG Navigator program helping families tread through the beginning stages of diagnosis and all along the way. 💛♥️💛

09/02/2026

Twenty-seven. 🎂 With 9 unbearably painful years tacked to the end of the total. That's how old Kayne would be today. 🥰

I try to picture it, you know. What life would be like with 27-year-old Kayne. Maybe still living somewhere near the ocean. Maybe still swimming. Maybe with a job that made him laugh and prank others. Perhaps with a gentle dog by his side everywhere the way Dementor_the_Moose was. Maybe home for dinner on Sundays, giving me a jokingly hard time about my workouts, what’s for dinner and why I take so many pictures. 💦💜💛🐾

Instead, I get to hold Kayne in my mind’s memories, like a frozen computer screen with no way to unlock. In his little nephew’s face, smile and giggle when he eats ice cream. In every kid who has ever jumped a cannonball into a pool. In this foundation that carries his name, legacy and light for others. 🌟🍨💣

If you want to give him a birthday gift today, here's how:
🎗️ Donate $27 — one dollar for every year he should have been here. (cannonballs.org — link in bio)
🎗️ Share this post — say his name out loud today.
🎗️ Tell someone about DIPG — the brain tumor that took him from us. The one we are still working to cure.

Happy birthday, my sweet and precious son. I love you 27 years' worth, and every year forward. Your life mattered and we miss you so very much!
Love, Momma 💛

📸 Kayne on his way to swim practice, circa 2016.

🎗️

09/02/2026

September is here. 🎗️
For most people, September means back-to-school and the first hint of fall. For us — and for every family who has ever heard the letters DIPG and what they stand for — September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And we go GOLD. 🥰🌟🙌

I've been quiet for a bit. Life has needed me elsewhere — “grandsitting”, work trips, family time and home improvements. But I'm back — because September has always mattered too much to our family to sit out. And because tomorrow, on September 2, our sweet and precious son and brother Kayne would be turning 27. More on that tomorrow. Tonight I want to remind you what Cannonballs For Kayne is here for:
💛 Funding research for a cure to DIPG — the pediatric brain tumor that took our son.
💛 Supporting families currently in the fight, through Cannonballs Cares.
💛 Pledging patient care facilities in Baton Rouge at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital.
💛 Educating our community so no other family has to Google "DIPG" from a hospital parking lot the way we did. DIPG - Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma matters.

Every dollar you give this month goes toward those priorities. Every share puts Kayne's name — and every child's name — in front of one more person who didn't know.

Please walk together this month with us. Wear your gold. Share our posts. Give what you can. Tell someone about DIPG.

Kayne is still doing work in this world. You are part of how.
With so much love,
Kirsten 🙏💛💣💦

📸 Kayne and Keagan, circa 2016
🔗 cannonballs.org🎗️

06/02/2026

And just like that — May is behind us. 🩶
Brain Tumor Action Month always hits differently in this family. But this year, we got to close it out with a number I'm still emotional about:

$5,395. 🎉

That's what the Scrappy Ladies of Daytona Area Scrapbooking raised for Cannonballs For Kayne at their Every May We Go Grey crop. To Tara and every woman in this photo — thank you. You turned a weekend of scrapbooking into research hours, gas tanks, and small comforts for families fighting pediatric brain cancer.

Thank you also to Masterpiece Jewelers, every Friend of Cannonballs who donated raffle prizes, and VFW Post 3282 Port Orange for opening your doors to us.

May we never stop going grey. 🩶🩶🩶

05/25/2026

Honoring Memorial Day, with a soft acknowledgment of grief 🤍🕊️🤍

Today we honor the men and women who gave their lives in service to this country. 🇺🇸

To the Gold Star families — the mothers, fathers, spouses, children, and siblings who carry the weight of that sacrifice every single day — we see you. Memorial Day belongs to you.

And to anyone else who finds days like today heavier than they expected — the ones marked by flags and parades and family cookouts, while you're quietly missing someone who isn't here — please know you aren't alone in that, either. Grief shows up uninvited on the days that are supposed to feel like rest.

If today is tender for you, be gentle with yourself. Light a soft, scented candle. Say their name out loud. Tell a sentimental story. Eat the red, ripe watermelon. Shed a few tears if you want. All of it counts as remembrance.

To the families of the fallen — thank you. We will never forget. 🩶💛🩶

05/20/2026

Tomorrow I have an honor I never expected to carry. 🩶💙💚🩶

Tomorrow night at the Volusia-Flagler High School Sports Awards (presented by the Daytona Beach News-Journal and USA TODAY Network), I will be presenting the Kayne Finley Courage Award, sponsored by Halifax Health.

This photo is from the night the award was first given — in 2017, to Kayne. What I love about this photo is that our whole family was together. Left to right: Kendra (now Finley), Keagan, NFL MVP Matt Ryan (the keynote speaker that night), Kayne, me, and Curtis.

Kayne was living with terminal brain cancer when he received it. They recognized him for the courage he carried through it — alongside his commitment to his academics, his swimming, and his volleyball. He kept showing up. He kept being himself. That's what set him apart.

The award has been given every spring since. Each year it goes to a Volusia or Flagler County high school student athlete or coach who has shown courage in the face of adversity. Tomorrow night I get to hand it to the 2026 recipient. Every year, when I look at the kid receiving it, I think: Kayne is right here. Cheering you on.

Thank you, Halifax Health, for being part of this award every year since 2017.
With love,
Kirsten 🙏💛💣💦

05/19/2026

Thank you to every one of you who showed up for Sunday's post. The reach, the comments, the messages — I read every one. Kayne and Dementor were carried by your love this weekend.

Big week ahead at Cannonballs For Kayne. Wednesday I'll be sharing a photo I love and a story I never thought I'd be telling. Thursday is one of my favorite nights of the year. Stay close.
With love,
Kirsten 🙏💛💣💦

05/17/2026

Today is two anniversaries woven into one. 🩶✌️

It is International DIPG/DMG Awareness Day — the one day every year when the families who have walked this unfamiliar road raise our voices together. Before Kayne, I had never heard the words DIPG or DMG. Most people haven't. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. Diffuse Midline Glioma. They are pediatric brain tumors. There is still no cure. We are working to change that.

It is also Dementor_the_Moose's heavenly birthday today. 🐾

This is one of our favorite photos of them — Kayne and Dementor on the Quad at LSU, autumn of 2017. You can see Dementor's service dog vest. You can see Kayne's scooter beside him — DIPG had begun stealing his mobility, but it hadn't touched his spirit. You can see what it looks like when an English Mastiff decides he has been assigned to one boy, and he does not leave his side.

Dementor was a gentle giant. A quiet shadow. The dignity in the room when DIPG was trying to take everything. He carried Kayne through hard days I cannot describe — and he carried us, too. When Kayne went, Dementor never quit. He kept loving us. Until it was his turn to follow. 🤍

We miss them both. Every day. Especially today.
If you are reading this and you want to do something — here is what your dollars do:
🩶 Fund DIPG/DMG research so the next family gets a different ending
🩶 Support patient care facilities caring for kids in active treatment
🩶 Help families afflicted with the practical weight of this diagnosis — meals, gas, groceries, rent when one parent has had to stop working.

Every gift, at every size, makes a real difference. $25 helps fill the gas tank for the drive to the clinic. $50 buys a lunch or dinner for a family during a long treatment day. $100 helps toward a first night’s lodging for a newly diagnosed family. $1,000 funds hours of research time that did not exist before you gave.

The link is in our bio. Or DM me — I will personally walk you through it.
Today we hold them. Tomorrow we keep fighting.
With so much love, Kirsten 🙏💛💣💦

Address

PO Box 1738
Ormond Beach, FL
32175

Telephone

+18599911084

Website

https://www.cannonballs.org/

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