Bracelets that cure cancer… Sounds like a crazy, weird fairy tale, doesn't it? A little bead, a little string, ten dollars… and a big cruise liner. Even more unrealistic? Yet, somehow, on the other end of that magic, a child fighting cancer is standing on the deck of a cruise ship, feeling the ocean breeze for the first time, with the pink glow coming back to her cheeks. Sounds impossible!! What if we told you it's completely, breathtakingly true?
Can one little bracelet cure cancer? How stupid is that?!!.. And what would you say if we told you that it possibly can?
This is a very out-of-the-ordinary story about one totally ordinary bracelet. And we can't wait to share it with you.
Once upon a time, there was a five-year-old girl named Lucia, who had cancer. As sad and terrifying as it sounds, because nobody really knew what lay ahead, how fatal or gloomy the future suddenly got for her family.
Her grandma, Ester Jordan, found an organization with an unusual mission: to bring a little bit of joy to the hearts of families and caregivers dealing with cancer. Through Kick Cancer Overboard, Lucia and her family were awarded a free cruise to Bermuda.
Ester loved her granddaughter so much that she paid her own way and joined them.
Members of the organization accompany these families on the cruises, guiding them to make the most out of every experience. Many have never been on a cruise. They may not know what's included, what's available to them, how to navigate the possibilities… an experience like that was never within their reach before.
Positive feelings create magic. Ester suddenly saw the gleam return to little Lucia's eyes, the joy, the pink glow coming back to her cheeks.
She walked up to Ted Friedli, founder of Kick Cancer Overboard, owner of Excel Travel in Long Branch, and the man whose efforts made this happen, and said: I want to help by making bracelets! They were doubtful. How far could a simple hobby of making bracelets take someone fighting with cancer?!
Undeterred, Ester started making bracelets, offering them to anybody who would hear the amazing story of her granddaughter. Then she took it further. She approached local businesses with a proposition: sell 300 bracelets at ten dollars each, and YOU get to surprise a family affected by cancer with a free cruise.
That worked. BIG TIME.
In over five years, Ester, with the help of incredible local businesses and partners who joined her cause, has raised over $320,000!!!
Now, years later, little Lucia is flourishing into a beautiful young lady.
One ordinary bracelet became many extraordinary miracles.
At our recent meeting, we were honored to welcome Ted Friedli and Ester Jordan, who came to share this remarkable story with us. Their mission is simple and powerful: give away free cruises to people affected by cancer, and raise the spirits of families carrying one of the heaviest burdens a family can carry!
We live in a world where cancer is a plague of our modern day. Everybody knows somebody fighting with cancer who could use their spirits lifted—someone who wouldn't have the funds to afford an experience like that, even if they weren't already facing something so expensive and difficult.
Can one little bracelet cure cancer? It's a tough question to answer. But the wonderful positive feelings, like ripples in the sea that gather into a wave large enough to carry someone struggling through the stormy patch of their life to the peaceful shore—who knows? Maybe this one little ripple is all it takes.
Thank you, Ester. Thank you, Ted. Thank you, Kick Cancer Overboard!! 💚
To learn more or get involved, visit kickcanceroverboard.org or reach out to our Rotary about our upcoming bracelet-making fundraiser!