A "SUPERHERO" mum is using positivity to "kick cancer's butt" and prove that sufferers can still be glamorous.
Pembrey mum-of-two Caris Hedd Bowen is undergoing chemotherapy in her battle against Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
But the 21-year-old is keeping her head up — embracing her hair loss and refusing to let the situation dampen her zest for life.
Caris said: "In my situation, what keeps me going is thinking, 'It could be worse'.
"Well apart from death — there's nothing worse than that — but really, there's always someone worse off than you.
"If I lost my legs, it wouldn't matter, I would still get to watch my children grow up."
Hodgkin's Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system — the body's defence mechanism.
Since being diagnosed on January 31 of this year, Caris has been fighting the disease and has been dealing with a six-month schedule of chemotherapy.
This form of treatment can have a drastic effect on the body, hair loss being one of the most common side-effects.
But Caris — who in the past has shaved her hair off for a cystic fibrosis charity — is sporting the shaved look with pride as well as working wigs into her individual style.
And her two little boys — Travis Armstrong, 6, and Finley Armstrong, 4 — are strongly behind their mum.
Caris said: "They've been brilliant. I have just been to parents' evening and the teacher was talking about the work they had been doing on different races and religions.
"The teacher said that my boy said, in front of the class, 'My mummy hasn't got any hair' and he was smiling when he said it.
"To them, no matter what I look like, I'm still me — they've just been amazing."
Caris has had a device called a PICC line fitted to help to reduce the damaging effect of the chemotherapy.
Similar to a cannula, Caris's PICC line enters her forearm and travels up a vein towards the heart — and her little boys find it fascinating.
She said: "They see me as a superhero, it's very adorable."
With the support of her children, family and crowds of friends, Caris's positivity is high and she hopes to beat the cancer into remission by August.
And even with the depressing lows which follow chemotherapy sessions, she still has her head held high.
"I'm the sort of person that can relate to people's problems, but until you have it, you can't understand," Caris said. "I sometimes feel terribly depressed and that's not like me so that's where positivity helps."
Caris recalled a moment of realisation when she was having chemotherapy in hospital.
She said: "I overheard another patient asking, 'How long do I have?' and it hit me — I'm going to beat this and I'm going to be fine. I have to be strong, because if I'm not, it might get the better of me.
"Going through this has made me no different, in fact, it has made me stronger again."
Looking to the future, once the chemotherapy is complete and she is in remission, Caris is already planning charity work to help others.
Having lost all her hair, she hopes that when it grows back she will be able to shave it all off again to raise money for charity.
And looking at the comments of her supportive friends on Facebook, she should raise a fortune.
