Finley Fest Remembers South Suburban Cancer Patient, Helps Families

CHICAGO — Lacey Bracken can routinely predict the wide range of emotions she will feel on the day in September when she commemorates the birthday of her daughter, Finley.

Three years have passed since Finley Bracken died just a couple of weeks shy of her third birthday after battling with neuroblastoma for 11 months. Since then, her family founded the Finley Forever Foundation, which assists local families dealing with childhood cancer like Bracken, her husband Dan, and their children did during Finley’s fight.

On Saturday, the foundation will host the third annual Finley Fest, which has raised more than $210,000 that has gone to nearly 70 families who are coping with the daily effects of living with childhood cancer. While the event – which will be held from 2-6 p.m. on Saturday at Cork & Kerry (10614 S. Western Ave. in Chicago) does so much good to assist families, it is also a reminder for Lacey Bracken of what she and her family went through in the not-so-distant past.

While the event commemorates Finley’s birthday on Sept. 27, it also marks the Sept. 11 anniversary of the young girl’s death. That creates a bittersweet mix of feelings for Bracken who oversees the event despite an army of volunteers that help the day’s host of activities to go off as planned.

Finley died nine months after 99 percent of the cancer was removed from her body. However, the cancer eventually metastisized and eventually claimed her life.

“We just keep moving,” Lacey Bracken told Patch on Tuesday. “Sometimes, it is really hard because we’ll meet kids, and they will be really sick, and they may pass away, and we may get to know them. So that part is really tough but at the same time, I know that there were people who were helping us in the same situation and those people got through the same thing.

“So even if it is sad or it reminds me of what we went through, I feel it’s very important for me to help someone else through it because not a lot of people are strong enough to do that.”

The event, which will feature live music by the Larkin Bros., will also feature face-painting, balloon art, a food truck, a photo booth, and other events, serves as a Celebration of Life for Finley. But at the same time, the event also is the biggest fundraiser the Finley Forever Foundation hosts each year to raise money to assist families.

In addition to the events, Finley Fest also includes an area that spotlights the Lights And Ladders Brigade events that the foundation hosts every December. The group decorates the homes of childhood cancer patients with holiday lights and other festive touches. Dan Bracken founded the Brigade as well as the Finley Forever Foundation in an effort to do as much good as possible. Saturday's event will also include the public debut of a fire truck and ambulance that was donated to the foundation and was recently wrapped in purple and yellow vinyl and will be outside of the venue for photo opportunities.

The mission of the Finley Forever Foundation is to meet families where they are. While some families who receive assistance wish to keep their journey private, others need to community support they find from others dealing with the same battle. Lacey Bracken understands both sides and realizes that a cancer battle is different for everyone, making the ways the foundation can help unique to each family.

Having endured the cancer journey many families from not only the Beverly and Mt. Greenwood neighborhoods where the Bracken family lived during Finley’s fight but into the greater South Suburban region. The family now resides in New Lenox and Dan Bracken works as a captain with the Flossmoor Fire Department, which has expanded the foundation’s reach.

At times, Dan Bracken urges Lacey to slow down when planning and pulling off the annual Finley Fest event. But for her, the work has proven therapeutic as she continues to remember her beautiful little girl. While she does have plenty of assistance, Lacey admits that many times, she works too hard to make sure that the event is perfect and goes off without a hitch.

Yet, for all of the emotions that go along with the day each year, the events organizer appreciates the benefits that can be felt by so many families.

“I still have those moments where I just want to scream and quit the whole thing because you have to see the bad,” Lacey Bracken told Patch. “But overall, when you are helping someone through the bad, I can try to make some good, still. We made a lot of good out of losing our daughter and it’s the most horrible thing in the world and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. But at the same time, we did our best to make something out of it and to make other people’s lives a little bit easier and so it’s really special to me.”