MORE than 3,000 women charity walkers and runners were set on their way yesterday by a family hit by cancer.

Cancer Research UK's Race for Life, in Sunderland, was started by cancer survivors and sisters Karen and Kay McGurrell, of Sunderland, who were joined on the starting line by their mother Margaret, who lost her husband, John, to cancer, and Kay's five-year-old daughter Abigail Harrison.

Karen, 30, and Kay, 27, were diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic condition, known as Li-Fraumeni's Syndrome, which increased their risk of developing cancer early in life.

Their family is one of only 400 diagnosed with the disorder throughout the world.

Karen was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she was only 14 and Kay, who is expecting her second child next month, was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer, known as Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, in July 2002.

She was treated with surgery but did not need chemotherapy.

Their father John McGurrell, also from Sunderland, died from cancer, aged 45. His brothers, Anthony and Kevin McGurrell, also died young from the disease.

Karen said: "I've seen the impact cancer has had on my family and, having survived it myself, I know first hand that it's vitally important to help Cancer Research UK fund research into the disease."

A spokeswoman for the charity said the event, at the Herrington Country Park, was a great success.

"We had more than 3,000 women doing the 5km run or walk - double the number who took part last year."