You might not remember her name or recognize her face, but Kayli Eckinger's story is hard to forget.

Kayli, 8, of Marietta, was diagnosed with Wilms' Tumor, a rare form of pediatric kidney cancer, in October 2000. She was just 20 months old.

She has few memories of her own battle with cancer but she knows what happened and is acting on it.

"I remember the playground at the hospital and going for my check-ups," she said. "Now I want to help other people who have cancer."

She served as honorary chairman of the first-ever Elizabethtown Relay for Life in 2002 and will return at 10 a.m. Saturday to speak during the event's kids walk.

Kayli will also walk in the survivors' lap as she has done for the past six years.

"I love the survivors' lap because it's dark and there's lots of candles," she said.

She had a football-sized tumor removed from her right kidney in January 2001 then underwent chemotherapy and radiation. Her treatments ended in June 2001, and she has been cancer-free ever since.

She is a third-grader at Riverview Elementary School. She was a cheerleader last year year, and will try soccer for the first time this fall.

There's a chance the cancer could come back, but Kayli and her parents, Justin, 30, and Keri, 27, said they're confident that it won't.

Justin said the family's life has gotten back to normal over the past few years.

"I never forget that there was a chance she wouldn't be here right now," he said. "But we really wanted to get back to normal pretty quickly after the treatments stopped ... Keri and I were pretty young when it happened."

Since 2001, the family moved in to a new home and welcomed a second child Colin, 3.

They had a few concerns that he might also have Wills' Tumor, but he was healthy.

"There were a times when he would get sick, that we'd get worried," Justin said. "But based on Kayli's diagnosis, we were pretty sure the cancer wasn't hereditary."

When Kayli was going through surgery and chemotherapy, she received hundreds of cards and letters after her grandmother, April Mooney, contacted local media to tell the family's story.

Most of the cards stopped after a few months, but Kayli continued to receive a card every major holiday from someone known only as "BT."

The family would love to know who this mystery person is so she can contact him or her to say thank you.

Kayli returns to the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center each April for a check-up at the Penn State Children's Hospital.

This year's visit marked a big milestone for the 8-year-old, who is now a pro at handling doctor's appointments.

"This time, I got to go into the shot room all by myself," she said. "I was scared, but I knew the shot would only hurt for a second."

When her "Pappy," great-grandfather Bernard Carnes, of Elizabethtown, was battling cancer last year, Kayli put her desire to help to work.

"Kayli was such an inspiration to him," Mooney said, her voice choking up during a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. "He was scared of the chemo and everything he had to go through, so he really looked to her for strength."

Carnes, Mooney's father, was diagnosed with skin cancer in July 2006. It quickly spread throughout his body and he died that November at age 75, Mooney said.

Kayli said she would like to be a movie star or singer when she grows up. Her favorites right now are Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

She hopes to sell some of the hundreds of stuffed animals she received during her treatment as a Relay for Life fundraiser.

And there's one loose end she would like to tie up. The family gave back most of the donations it received, but one card did not have a return address.

Reaching into her small pink and black purse, Kayli pulled a $5 bill that she received in that card.

"I would really like to find out who this belongs to so I can give it back to them," she said.

CONTACT US: jspinelle@LNPnews.com or 291-8733