A BRAVE young mum diagnosed with cancer just weeks after giving birth has spoken out about her ongoing battle.

Cassie Atkinson was told the devastating news that she was terminally ill with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after having her son Cody James in December.

And despite fighting off the disease after only two sessions of chemotherapy earlier this year, the 27-year-old has just learned it is back.

Given a mere three months to live and with a baby on her hip, the Kendal mum told the Gazette the only option was to undergo another batch of treatment.

Praised for her positivity and described as 'selfless' and 'devoted', Cassie wants to raise awareness of the disease.

"I want people to be aware of it," she said. "I was naive and had never heard of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The doctors didn't even know I had lymphoma for nine months.

"This is my situation, it's in my lower abdomen, but people should be going for a smear and should get anything checked if you're worried."

When Cassie first fell pregnant she found a lump in her abdomen which doctors thought was a fibroid, a benign tumour.

A week after giving birth to her healthy son Cody, Cassie, of Kirkbarrow, was back in hospital at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary to have the tumour - which by then had grown to 18cm in size - removed.

But during the eight-hour surgery doctors found that in fact what Cassie had was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - the same disease that killed courageous Ulverston teenager and 'bucket-list blogger' Alice Pyne.

"I lost four pints of blood during the surgery and was in intensive care," she added. "I was in for two weeks over Christmas and didn't get told it was lymphoma until two days before New Year's Eve.

"They found lymphoma around my liver, spleen and pancreas and removed the majority of it."

With a 60 per cent rate of success, the former Queen Katherine School pupil embarked upon her first run of chemotherapy in late January and after two sessions it had gone.

But a CT scan in June showed the cancer was back, this time around the lining of her bowel and pelvis.

"It was either more chemotherapy or have three months left," said Cassie, who is now having more treatment. "It's been hard but I have my mum, sister and boyfriend (Stuart Smith)."

And facing the prospect of being unable to have any more children, she said: "I have Cody now. I have got to be positive."

If it was not for Cody, she may never have spotted the cancer in time as "the hormones from the pregnancy fed the tumour".

Now sister Mia Atkinson and nine of Cassie's friends from school are backing her cause and have set their sights on tackling Ben Nevis in September in aid of Macmillan.

The group has a target of £5,000 and have made a decent headway with donations already reaching £1,780.

Friend Holly Melling said: "She (Cassie) has been completely selfless and devoted all her spare time to her son, family and friends.

"Moreover, she would like nothing more than to help others in her situation by humbly asking people to spare a few extra pounds to donate to the charity that has helped her cope in certain stages of emotion."

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/cassiesgirlsvsbennevis