Edmonton (May 09/05) - From her room at an Edmonton boarding house, Cheryl Lafferty-McKenzie sounds exhausted as she describes the medical odyssey that her gripped her young family.

Several months ago doctors diagnosed her two-year-old son Geronimoe with lymphoblastic leukemia, a curable cancer that attacks white blood cells.

After weeks of chemotherapy treatments - most of which were administered by Lafferty-McKenzie herself - doctors announced Friday the cancer was in remission.

While Lafferty-McKenzie was relieved with the diagnosis, the future remains somewhat uncertain for the 19-year-old single mother and her precocious toddler.

"It has been difficult," said McKenzie Lafferty, who is from Fort Providence. "But Geronimoe is doing well and things are looking better."

Geronimoe begins full-scale chemotherapy treatments this week at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. The drug regimen - which includes treatments every three weeks for the next several months - will last nearly two years as doctors try to guard against a recurrence of the cancer, Lafferty-McKenzie said.

"It's hard. It will take quite a long time."

McKenzie-Lafferty has to keep a near-constant watch on Geronimoe, whose immune system was weakened by the treatments leaving his body exposed to a potentially fatal fever.

"I have to watch his temperature 24/7," said Lafferty.

The treatments caused Geronimoe's weight to bounce around like a yo-yo, at one pointing jumping nearly 16 pounds in one month. The toddler has also begun to lose his hair and has problems with his joints, but Lafferty-McKenzie said otherwise he is doing well.

Doctors believe Geronimoe may need a bone marrow transplant for a full-recovery, she said. They found a donor-match in one of his cousins. "That was very encouraging," she said.

In all likelihood, McKenzie-Lafferty will move to Yellowknife after she returns to the Northwest Territories later this month. "There will lots of travelling and living in Yellowknife will make it easier," she said.

Lafferty-McKenzie received support from an unexpected source Thursday - the North Slave Correctional Centre in Yellowknife.

Prisoner Stanley Itsi spearheaded a campaign that raised $160 for the family, based on donations from nearly 100 inmates. The money came largely from the relatively meagre daily stipends prisoners receive from jail officials or money for their families.

"We were happy to help," Itsi said Thursday from the jail. "People think everybody in here is bad, but we all have hearts."

Several prisoners are also using their artistic skills to help support Geronimoe and his mother.

The inmates are hoping to display a series of newly-created paintings at local art gallery, with proceeds from their sale earmarked for the family, Itsi said.

"We wish we could do more. But if we can do something, imagine what other people in the community can do."

Lafferty-McKenzie thanked the inmates for the donation. "That was very nice," she said.

Fundraising efforts in Fort Providence have raised about $1,200, said Lafferty-McKenzie's cousin Susan Christie.

"The support has been good," said Christie. "All of the donations help."