A YOUNG boy has been been given the all clear after battling cancer for the last three years.
Ramsey Mercer's mother has called her eight-year-old her "little hero" as her son loved to dress up as his favourite superheroes to help him feel brave during his fight against acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Ramsey and his family finally received the good news following 164 weeks of gruelling chemotherapy.
The youngster has endured weeks in isolation, had bone marrow painfully extracted from his pelvic bone, as well as several lumber punctures and blood transfusions.
He has also battled countless life-threatening infections, as the cocktail of cancer drugs wiped out his immune system.
But to help the courageous schoolboy find the strength to get through the ordeal, Ramsey dressed up as his favourite comic-strip superheroes, including Batman and Superman.
His proud mother Adelle, 38, from Evanton, Ross-shire, said: "I think it made him feel brave.
"One of the first things he said to his dad when he was coming to visit him in hospital was, 'don't forget my Sportacus suit.
"He just loves to dress up and is very much into his superheroes. I think it really helped him.
"He's been every single one of them - Spiderman, Superman, Batman. Captain America, Sportacus, and the Hulk. The only one they didn't have in his size was Thor and I'm still on the look out for it.
"He's my little hero. He was just amazing through it all and I'm very proud of him."
Ramsey had his final dose of chemotherapy on November 19 and just days later doctors gave his family the long-awaited news that he had beaten the disease.
The primary four pupil is now looking forward to his first cancer-free year since he started primary one.
Mrs Mercer, who is also mother to Aidan, 16, and Abbie, 11, said: "It was a big relief when we were told his cancer was in remission.
"We had a party after every year [of chemotherapy] to celebrate him getting through it all and that he was still here. But this time we didn't want to tempt fate. We just treated it as any other day. We took a photo of him having his last chemo and didn't make a big deal of it.
"He still has no immune system. He just needs time to build it back up so he can fight infection on his own without antibiotics and, it will always be in the back of our minds, that it [the leukaemia] could come back.
"But we try not to treat him any differently, and he can be a proper little boy these days.
"He was only five when he was diagnosed, so to Ramsey, it's just been life. Just the other day he reminded us when he needed his medication."
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