JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Early last year, Kennedy Waymer felt a pain in her throwing arm while practicing with Paxon School For Advanced Studies softball team.
Waymer was a standout on her team, but also played basketball and volleyball, and maintained a 4.6 GPA. She was honored as News4JAX’s All-Star Athlete in 2022. Her skills on the diamond earned her a softball scholarship to the College of Coastal Georgia after helping lead her team to the 4A District 2 Finals.
Her parents didn’t know what to make of the pain in her arm, but they eventually took her to Nemours for tests. A few weeks before graduating high school, doctors diagnosed her with Osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer that affects teenagers and young adults.
She began chemotherapy on May 18, 2024, and underwent surgery to remove the affected bone last summer. After 19 rounds of chemotherapy, she relapsed this year and underwent two lung surgeries in early 2025.
Through it all, she still joined the Coastal Georgia softball team while she battled the disease.
A GoFundMe set up to help raise money for the family said she kept high grades while studying engineering and showed “remarkable resilience.”
Waymer died last week, Oct. 14, at the age of 19.
Her family and friends are devastated, and a celebration of life service is set for Saturday, Oct. 25, at Greater Macedonia Baptist Church.
News4JAX is speaking to one of her coaches and her parents, Sandra and Ron, on Tuesday, and we will update this story.
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