It started with more than half a dozen doctors providing varying diagnoses, telling the family they had nothing to worry about.

Alani Cockshutt was only four years old, but the bruises on her body were a sign that something wasn't quite right.

When it turned into a collapsed eye and then required a blood test, it was obvious something more sinister was at play.

For the next eight months, the Port Macquarie youngster was in the fight of her life as doctors worked on a chemotherapy protocol that would save her life while working to limit the long-term side effects.

The protocol involved a cocktail of chemotherapy drugs that were injected into her spine and into her bloodstream.

Now more than a decade on she is cancer-free, but the 16-year-old said her battle had "100 percent" shaped her into the type of person she is.

"You don't give up, no matter what ... that was just the way I was brought up," she said.

"If something is too hard, you don't give up, you might just have to readjust things, go for a different goal and later on go for the big picture."

The teenager admitted she was one of the lucky ones.

But you can never take things for granted.

"I try and prove a lot of things and just because I had something when I was younger, it doesn't mean that I can't do something now," she said.

"I got really lucky with the family and friends' connections that I had when we went to hospital."

The determined and motivated teenager has long-term goals of making a world cycling team and travelling around Europe.

"I learned you can do whatever you put your mind to," she said.

"I spend about 14 hours a week cycling, going to the gym and I try and get on social media and contact people as well as promoting my name within cycling."

While she has battled cancer and beaten it, it taught her to be "quite strict" with her health.

"It's taught me to respect myself rather than push myself too far because I could go over the line and then go back downhill again," she said.

"I try to have that social aspect like seeing friends of a weekend to try and keep a balance with school sport and social life."

Understandably, thoughts of her cancer battle still remained in the back of her mind, but the Port Macquarie cyclist tried not to let it impact too heavily on her day-to-day life.

"It's always there," she said.

"I try to not think about 'what if this happened' or 'what if that happened'.

"I try and think 'it's now and I beat it' and there are no problems right now, so I'm going to keep living every day."

The MacKillop College student will join forces with friend Monty Moore as they attempt to cycle the equivalent of Mount Everest on Zwift to raise money for the Starlight Foundation.

Should they achieve the 200-kilometre route complete with 8848 metres of elevation, they will be the youngest-ever to do so.

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