Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Allyson McClellan visits Santa Claus at the History Museum of Western Virginia. It's been nearly a year since Allyson, 9, finished treatment for her second bout with cancer.

Allyson McClellan, her parents, Michelle and Chris, and her sister, Emily, look at Santa's sign-up list at the History Museum of Western Virginia.

Allyson McClellan is fearless.

At 9 years old, she has ridden all of the roller coasters at Walt Disney World. She's been on bungee jumping and skydiving simulators. She looks forward to trying both for real.

Allyson has also survived cancer twice, lost her hair and suffered the attenuating effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She had a Wilms tumor that prompted doctors to remove one of her kidneys before she was 2, and doctors found a rare soft-tissue tumor above her right eye, a rhabdomyosarcoma, in April 2008.

"And she's not afraid of shots," said her older sister, Emily, 10.

During Allyson's most recent treatment, which ended in January, she injected her own legs with Neupogen, a drug that boosts white blood cell counts. It was her way of having control over her illness, said her father, Chris.

"They don't hurt," Allyson said of the shots.

The girls braided bracelets in the family's living room at their Botetourt County home on the Monday before Christmas. Chris is an assistant principal at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, and mom Michelle works as family room coordinator at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Virginia. Nathan, the girls' 13-year-old brother, ducked in and out of the living room. Max, the family's Maltese puppy, napped on the presents wrapped and piled under the Christmas tree.

It's been almost a year since Allyson finished treatment. But the family still feels the fear and pain of her cancer.

Does Christmas mean something more now? "Every day does," Chris said. "Usually I'm a pretty good tightwad when it comes to financial things. ... But you never know how many Christmases."

Since The Roanoke Times featured Allyson's story in February, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Virginia sent the family to Los Angeles in April. Allyson met Nickelodeon TV stars Miranda Cosgrove, from "iCarly," and Miley Cyrus, from "Hannah Montana," fulfilling her two biggest wishes. Autographed pictures of the "iCarly" cast and Cyrus now hang above Allyson's bed in her bright pink, green and zebra-stripe room.

She remembers the trip with a flip-book of photos on her dresser -- snapshots of a skinny, smiling little girl with no hair but plenty of hats.

Allyson now wears her brown hair straight, closely cropped at her ears, and bangs in a yellow bow. The treatment changed it from blond, like her sister, to dark.

She can't remember much of being sick, said Chris. Maybe that's her way of coping, Michelle added.

"We wish we had some of that," the mother said. Talking about it still induces Michelle's tears. She and Chris remember every detail.

For months after she finished the chemotherapy and radiation, Allyson was so fatigued she lay on the couch and had to be carried by her dad. She drew pictures of people with tumors on their bodies after she was diagnosed. Later she played "clinic" with her friends, pretending to diagnose and treat them for cancer in her bedroom.

Her siblings suffered too: Nathan would stay outside the house all day to avoid Allyson's sickness. Emily used to hide in her room and cry, Michelle said.

Now the three fight like typical siblings, raising their voices playing Nintendo Wii. Allyson can hold her own, Chris said.

Allyson and Emily play basketball -- at 4-foot-6, Allyson has grown 5 inches since she started treatment and is almost as tall as her big sister. She had felt enough residual pain in her feet and legs to need physical therapy until recently.

She's become an unofficial spokeswoman for pediatric cancer. She's appeared as a guest of honor at a fraternity fundraiser for St. Baldrick's Foundation at Radford University in March; Children's Miracle Network Heels for Healing luncheon in April; Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield LemonAid fundraiser in July; and WSLC-FM's Cure Kids Cancer RadioThon in August.

Tara Wheeler, Miss Virginia 2008, shaved her head for charity partly because of Allyson's inspiration, and made national news. She and Allyson go to the little girl's favorite restaurant, O'Charley's, when Wheeler comes to town.

A pastor in Florida was so moved by Allyson's story that he calls the McClellans every few months to see how Allyson is doing, Michelle said.

"People don't realize that it's here in our community. If Allyson can be the face in our community, then we're all for it," Michelle said.

Michelle is writing a book she hopes will guide other mothers through their children's cancer. She has an introduction on paper but hasn't found a publisher.

Allyson's next checkup is Jan. 7, where she'll get an MRI, a chest X-ray and lab work. As the date approaches, all the McClellans get nervous: The cancer could return, because of the number of treatments she has received and the possibility of a genetic predisposition.

Michelle remembers, "One picture can mean -- it can throw you back to that life you don't want to be in."