Bronx resident and Marine veteran Jim Hickey began his 100-mile walk from Wading River to Staten Island on April 3. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)

A little girl from Staten Island has a friend willing to walk 100 miles in her name — hoping onlookers will contribute to her family’s hardships.

Last Friday, Bronx resident Jim Hickey, 64, shouldered a knapsack in front of Amore Fine Jewelry at East Wind in Wading River and set out on a trek from the East End to Staten Island to highlight the plight of Lucy Dina, a 6-year-old battling neuroblastoma.

She is the 40th child the Marine veteran has honored over the past 28 years, walking in the names of children with cancer and asking strangers he meets along the way to donate directly to their families.

Mr. Hickey connected with Lucy’s family through Facebook last November and quickly became part of their lives, visiting her in the hospital and keeping in touch with her mother, Lori Del Percio.

“She’s just an amazing, amazing little kid, and their family is fantastic,” Mr. Hickey told the Riverhead News-Review before beginning his journey.

Lucy Dina, 6, of Staten Island, is battling neuroblastoma. (Courtesy Lori Del Percio)

Lucy’s story

Lucy was first diagnosed when she was nine months old with neuroblastoma — a rare, aggressive cancer that mostly affects children 5 or younger, according to the Mayo Clinic. She had been in remission for about four and a half years last August when a tumor was found in her leg, which fractured her femur.

The girl was bedridden for two months while receiving chemotherapy before rods and screws were inserted to reinforce the bone. She will be receiving immunotherapy for a week once a month until her next cancer scan in May or June, her family said. 

Beyond the fight for her life, Lucy’s family’s home in Oakwood, Staten Island, suffered major damage in February. Ms. Del Percio said the building’s ceiling collapsed due to water damage from broken pipes, and black mold has formed throughout the apartment.

Ms. Del Percio, her fiancé, Brock Underwood, and Lucy have been staying at her sister’s apartment in Manhattan near Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital.

From right, Lori Del Percio, her daughter Lucy Dina, and Ms. Del Percio’s fiancé, Brock Underwood. (Courtesy Lori Del Percio)

“We’ve been back there maybe three times to just see how bad it’s gotten,” she said.

Mr. Hickey is expected to complete his walk on Sunday, April 19, at Curly Wolf Saloon in Eltingville, Staten Island, where a fundraiser in Lucy’s name will be held.

Ms. Del Percio’s cousin Francine Scherma-Pagliorola launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the family move to a safer space for Lucy’s recovery or to purchase clean furniture if the apartment is fixed within a reasonable timeframe. 

As of April 6, it has raised more than $29,000.

Jim’s journey

Mr. Hickey’s walk for Lucy has been planned for months, though complications from his own medical diagnoses delayed the start. He had his bladder replaced and prostate removed in March 2025, a few years after he first noticed warning signs of blood in his urine during a walk for a 7-year-old girl named Paishence Hansen in 2021.

The idea for a fundraising walk was sparked in 1998 — roughly two and a half years after his father died of prostate cancer. About six months later after their father died, his brother, Jack, was diagnosed with the same disease.

“That just messed with me, and I knew I had to so something,” he said of the loss of his father and his brother’s diagnosis. “So, a couple years later, I don’t know why but I quit everything. I gave up my job, I sold my car, I gave up my apartment. I had no sponsors whatsoever.”

Jim Hickey walks in honor of 6-year-old Lucy Dina who is battling cancer. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)

With the money in his pocket and a backpack full of the basics, the New Jersey native walked 2,154 miles across all of America. The journey spanned three years and three months and ended in New Mexico.

During that cross-country walk, which was to help with cancer research at City of Hope Los Angeles, he noticed there was a child with cancer in each town he stopped in whose families needed financial assistance.

Mr. Hickey has walked 9,277 miles since first putting one foot in front of the other nearly three decades ago.

In all of the miles he’s walked, Mr. Hickey has met many welcoming folks. People have walked miles alongside him, offered him a safe place to rest his head or prepared a warm breakfast in the morning before he gets on the road again. 

However, it hasn’t been without its own risks. On his fifth attempt to walk across America, Mr. Hickey was struck by a car in an Indiana crosswalk and suffered a hairline fracture in his leg. Since then, he has limited the walks to about 200 miles for specific children with cancer. 

Jim Hickey and Amore Fine Jewelry owner Phil Grosso. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)

Phil Grosso, owner of Amore Fine Jewelry, helped make that fifth attempt possible for his friend of 16 years by fundraising for all the necessary logistics.

“He actually looked out for me the whole way,” Mr. Hickey said. “And if it weren’t for him and everything that he did, I probably wouldn’t still be doing this today.”

Lucy’s walk began at Mr. Grosso’s store as a way to pay homage to the man Mr. Hickey credits with making it possible.

“He truly does this for very unselfish reasons,” Mr. Grosso said. “He does this solely trying to raise money for these kids.” 

Mr. Hickey will walk about 7 miles a day over the next 16 days — a slower pace than years ago. 

He’ll trace Long Island’s north shore, take the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan and hop on the ferry to Staten Island — cheating just the slightest bit — to end his walk at Curly Wolf Saloon, which will host a fundraiser in Lucy’s name on April 19. 

The 6-year-old has a nickname for her benefactor: “Jim Business.”

Ms. Del Percio said Mr. Hickey has become part of their family, visiting Lucy in the hospital and even venturing out to a karaoke night for her birthday.

“They say pediatric cancer is rare, but if you go on the internet in these message boards and groups — it’s not as rare as they say,” she said. “So, for him to pick us and want to do something like that for our family means a lot to us … We love Jim, he’s amazing.”