Nora Misencik has the smile and energy to light up a room.

On Thursday, the 5-year-old cancer survivor from Allison Park lit up a city as she and her older sister, Heidi, 8, turned on the power and charm of the Christmas tree at the Rink at PPG Place in Pittsburgh.

“I think it’s pretty awesome,” said Adam Misencik, the proud father. “Everyone thinks this is great and awesome for her to do, especially down here in Pittsburgh.”

Nora’s mother, Andrea Misencik, said it was the first time her kids saw the ice rink.

“It’s so rewarding to be able to see us all experience this and have Nora get to do some things to make up for the tragedy her life was when she was born,” Andrea said. “I don’t think that she realized how big the Christmas tree was going to be until we got here. She saw that it was enormous, and the button to light it with is awesome. It’s a huge candy cane.

She loves Christmas. She’s never met a stranger. So, this whole thing is just meant for her.”

Nora was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma when she was 4 months old. She has gone through at least 10 rounds of chemotherapy and multiple checkups at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Nora said Thursday she was feeling good and excited to light the tree with her family. She hopes to get a lot of Barbies and toy pets this Christmas, which is her favorite holiday.

There has been no evidence of the disease in Nora the past few years, and another positive evaluation could let the doctors move her to the recovery phase.

“One year from next month hopefully they can consider her in remission,”Misencik said. “She is done with treatment now. She went through chemotherapy treatments for nine months.”

Neuroblastomas are cancers that start in early nerve cells of the nervous system, and can be found anywhere along that system, according to the American Cancer Society website.

The cancer diagnosis was devastating for the family, but emergency personnel was able to act quickly.

“It’s like the kind of thing I feel you couldn’t imagine unless it’s happened,” Misencik said. “The really nice thing was at Children’s Hospital. They just swooped right in and they didn’t give you much time to think about it. They just started treatment and filled you in with what they were doing.

”They literally saved her life. That made it a little bit easier. The longer we go without her having any kind of relapse the better the prognosis.”

The 73-foot-tall artificial tree sits in the center of the rink, which opens to the public Friday.

Its lighting is usually done with hundreds of guests in celebration of the annual American Cancer Society’s Tribute of Light.

People would skate around the tree with some illuminated tribute in memory of those lost to cancer and to honor current fighters.

Things changed this year, of course, due to covid-19 restrictions and health concerns.

The lighting was a private ceremony with the Misencik family, cancer society officials and a few guests.

The tribute cards will be taped around the ring this weekend with the person’s name on them.

“When there’s so much negative in the world, it’s great to be able to do something positive and have this child, who’s been through so much in her life already, to literally light up the city tonight,” cancer society Director of Communications Dan Tobin said. “It’s sad we can’t have the normal crowds, but completely understandable. To still be able to do it is great because, regardless of how the holiday season unrolls this year, it’s the holidays.

“It’s nice to be able to remember that. It’s nice to be able to honor people and also remind people that there are a lot of folks still going through the cancer journey. This is a good opportunity to honor their memory and honor them in their fight against cancer.”

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