A New Jersey family is partnering with two hair salons in Ocean County to help raise money to send cancer patients on vacation.

Five-year-old Lucia is like most little girls. She loves the color purple, animals and Disney princesses. But things have not been very easy for her family after she was diagnosed with cancer in May 2018.

Lucia’s illness, treatments and hospital stays changed a lot for her family. But they had a lot of support from others. Especially the group Kick Cancer Overboard – a Long Branch-based organization that sends cancer patients and their families on cruises for a vacation getaway.

Lucia’s grandmother Ester Jordan saw all the great work the organization did and wanted to do her part.

“I started making bracelets for Kick Cancer Overboard because my daughter's family received a free cruise to Bermuda from KCO and I thought, how I can pay it forward,” Jordan says.

The family makes the bracelets and then sells them at the Hair Hut and Style in Action hair salons. All of the proceeds go to Kick Cancer Overboard.

"We were completely honored and so excited to jump on board,” says hairstylist Caycee Duncan.

Once 300 bracelets are sold in the salon, each salon owner will get to choose the next family that is affected by cancer to go on the next cruise.

“Our next step is to keep selling and make sure that we absolutely sell enough to send a child on a free cruise,” says Duncan.

Lucia’s family says that these cruises are so important for the families impacted by cancer.

"So it's a time for the family to forget. It's a time for the children to forget. And a lot of time for the siblings to forget because they are also part of everything going on with their sibling having cancer,” says Lucia’s mother Melissa Graf.

Anyone who would like to help donate or buy a bracelet can contact Ester Jordan. More information about Kick Cancer Overboard can be found on the organization’s website.