Cancer doesn’t stop when it gets tired. It doesn’t take breaks or quit.

On Friday, the Washington First Baptist Church Relay for Life team, Christ Crusaders 4 A Cure, won’t either. The 22-member group will take turns walking laps around the Washington High School gym for four hours to raise money for cancer research.

Christ Crusaders 4 A Cure was created in 2006 and is made up of 22 members, six of whom are cancer survivors, according to Pam Warren, team captain. The team is a 10-year veteran to the relay, but this year’s event may tug at the members’ hearts a bit more than normal. Church members are joining together to walk for the late pastor of First Baptist Church, the Rev. Jimmy Moore, who died of cancer in July of last year.

“He touched our hearts in so many ways. … Oh, I’m going to cry just talking about it,” Warren said. “He walked with us last year. We raised funds with him and for him last year. This year he will not be with us, but we’ll walk for him. He was so special to us.”

For the past decade, the team has been marching towards a cure for cancer. Warren said they hold bake sales, yard sales, antique sales, meals at the church and special fundraisers all year long to get ready for the trademark event, and all the proceeds go to Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

The team was honored for first place in the county for the amount of funds raised in 2016. This year may bring the same results — the team is in first place with over $10,000 raised, according to the Relay for Life website.

“It makes us feel like we are doing something to help. We’re not just standing by and watching cancer happen. Maybe something we do will have an impact on somebody’s life and bring them back to health,” Warren said.

Funds raised at Relay for Life go to the American Cancer Society and potentially help make groundbreaking advances in cancer research. Warren, a cancer survivor, said when she was diagnosed 20 years ago, it felt like a death sentence.

“Our six survivors are a living example of what has happened over the years with cancer research,” Warren said.

Relay for Life comes with a spectrum of different emotions: hope, triumph and grief. Carol Rose, a Relay for Life organizer, said it usually ends up being a happy event with great community involvement.

“There’s a lot of excitement and joy, but there is also a lot of deeper, somber emotions about the impact cancer has,” Rose said.

Relay for Life will be held at the Washington High School gymnasium Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. It kicks off with the survivor lap at 6 p.m. and wraps up with a luminary ceremony at 9 p.m.