Cancer survivors, your Gig Harbor Relay for Life team is looking for you.

Statistics show cancer survivors make up 3 percent of a population. As of the last census, the Gig Harbor peninsula was just short of 50,000 people, and statistically, that means there are 1,500 cancer survivors on the peninsula.

The Gig Harbor Relay Committee would like to have all survivors come to our event in June to participate in the Survivors’ Lap. Participating in a relay event is a very satisfying and moving experience, one that will make you want to come back for more.

A relay is organized and completed by volunteers who have been called to do what they can to raise funds for cancer research. Participants are called to volunteer because of cancer touching their lives in some manner, or just because they want to make a difference.

Maybe they are a survivor, a caregiver, had family or friends who have survived or lost the battle to cancer. Everyone has their own reason for relaying.

Volunteer leaders and their staff partners have had a remarkable record of achievement throughout the history of the relay movement. A great example of that was the significant milestone that was surpassed early in 2011, when the cumulative total of relay net income since 1985 topped the $4 billion mark.

Money raised through organizations such as Relay for Life is funding research to eradicate cancer. Today, cancers that once were 100 percent fatal now have a survival rate of 95 percent thanks to research funded with money raised through Relay.

We would like to see cancer eradicated in our lifetime and make strides to complete this goal one step at a time at our local Relay for Life, walking, running and remembering the survivors and loved ones who have passed on.