After watching two close friends get stricken with cancer unexpectedly, Ted Friedli had his awareness raised.

Kick Cancer Overboard (Facebook)
Kick Cancer Overboard (Facebook)
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"It kind of opened up our eyes that cancer can just happen to anybody at anytime," he said.

Friedli decided that he wanted to help people affected by the disease.

Since he owns a travel agency, he knew first-hand about the healing powers of a good vacation. With that, he launched Kick Cancer Overboard, which provides cancer patients and their families with free cruises.

"These are some of the best times in their life because many people when they come on the ship, they really didn't have a good life for the last two, three, four years," Friedli explained.

He estimates that they have given away over 100 cruises since their inception. Friedli believes one of the things that makes his group so appealing is the fact that 100 percent of donations go directly to the cause with no overhead.

The people who receive the cruises are selected by a 10-person board, who review their stories.

Friedli said the idea is to give people a break from the cancer fight.

He hopes to one day fill an entire ship with people they provided free cruises to since there is currently no cancer cure in sight.

"So we're just going to plug away, get bigger every year, and just improve on the number of people we can help with a break," he said.

The non-profit is ramping up their fundraising efforts for New Jersey Marathon, which takes place the last weekend in April.

Find out more about this great Garden State charity and their upcoming events by visiting the Kick Cancer Overboard website and Facebook page.

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