An eight-year-old north boy has fought off an aggressive form of cancer, with the help of superheroes Batman and Superman.
Ramsey Mercer loved to dress up as his favourite superheroes to help him feel brave during his three-year fight against the disease.
Now the eight-year-old is his mum’s “little hero” after getting the all-clear following 164 weeks of gruelling chemotherapy.
He has spent more than a third of his young life battling acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, after being diagnosed only weeks after he started school.
Ramsey 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 comic-strip superheroes.
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.”
The primary four pupil at Kiltearn Primary is now looking forward to his first cancer-free year since he started primary one.
Mrs Mercer, who is also mum 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.”
Ramsey is now looking forward to a life without treatment and with newfound energy to run and play like any other, healthy little boy.
His mum said: “This will be the first year since he was five he has not had chemotherapy. Ramsey has been amazing. He has been really brave. I’m so proud of him.”