LARAIB Raza wears a bright rubber band on her wrist.

It is a constant reminder of how she has made a great recovery from cancer.

It bears two dates: the day in February 2011 when doctors diagnosed a six-inch tumour in her lungs, and the time in late-March last year when she was told those six gruelling months of chemo had been successful.

"I was diagnosed 12 days before my 20th birthday," said Laraib, from Glasgow's Govanhill and a former pupil of Holyrood Secondary School.

She pulls out a photo that shows two hospital CT scans, one 'before' and one 'after' her treatment.

"I can scare people with this photo," says the 22-year-old, with a laugh. "They said it was the size of two tennis balls. I just look at it now and think, 'Why was that in me?'"

Laraib was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, also known as cancer of the lymphatic system, which affects about 1500 people in the UK each year.

It is a relatively aggressive cancer that can quickly spread through the body, but there is a high rate for successful treatment in young people.

Laraib, then a student of interactive media at Glasgow Caledonian University, had experienced few symptoms apart from discomfort in her chest.

"When I breathed it would be crunchy - like if you open a crisp packet and it makes that noise," she said. "And because I'm ticklish, when I breathed out, it would tickle and I would laugh.

"It was a very weird thing."

At first, doctors told her to take paracetamol, then a week later prescribed a course of antibiotics.

When those did not work, she was sent for an X-ray.

"After I had it, they said, 'Can you wait for five minutes, we need to talk to the doctor?'" added Laraib.

"I was sitting thinking: 'Nah, nothing is going to be bad.' Then they said, 'You need to make an appointment to see your GP as soon as possible'.

"I did that and that's when the trouble happened."

The ensuing two weeks were a whirlwind of appointments and tests: a bone marrow biopsy, CT scans, PET scans and a chest biopsy on the tumour itself.

She began chemo, a mix of four drugs called ABVD, every two weeks for six months at the Victoria Infirmary.

"I didn't lose all my hair, thank goodness," she said.

"I would be the youngest one there. I felt dreadful. What can you do? I had to go through it to get better.

"I had it twice a month. One week would be getting chemo, the second week would be my recovery week and I would go to uni and do what I wanted.

"It was like going to jail for one week, then you are free - and it went on like that. That was my analogy of it."

SHE decided after completion of the chemotherapy not to have radiotherapy, which doctors advised should kill off any further cancer cells.

"They said I should get radiotherapy, but radiotherapy would mean I would get more problems, so I said no, I would just leave it," she said.

"I would say I'm in limbo, but I'm fine.

"I'm not in total remission. I'm taking a risk, but -" she said with a shrug.

Laraib does not want to focus on the negatives. Not now.

Instead, she has become passionate about raising awareness of cancer in young people in Glasgow and helping others get through difficult situations.

And she is not alone in her fight: she has the help of an adorable puppet called Aunty G.

The character, loosely based on her maternal grandmother, is the star of a series of internet films that the budding young filmmaker is putting together.

Each film to be uploaded to YouTube will tackle a different topical subject, everything from the horsemeat scandal to the dangers of smoking shisha.

"It is an educational show, but it is disguised as a comedy," said Laraib, who completed the second year of her course through distance learning in December and is looking for another course to further her interest in media and animation.

"I had cancer and people do not know much about it, they don't think it can happen to them.

"I want to do this to raise awareness that it does not matter what age you are, what race you are, your background, it can happen to you.

"Then we will tackle other social issues, community issues, things such as education, jobs and family issues."

A London-based creative agency is helping Laraib raise the profile of her company, CrazeTivity, through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

She has filmed two trailers for The Aunty G Show, which feature her elder brother Omar Raza, an acting student who appeared with Sanjeev Kohli in The Comedy Unit's Fags, Mags & Bags show on Radio 4.

"Omar is a very good actor - he can play any character, that includes men, women, kids, babies, animals, everything!" said Laraib.

"Even although he physically looks like a guy and has a beard, when he plays an Asian woman, you see an Asian woman- you don't see Omar."

Community centres, shops and the streets in Govanhill have provided the backdrop for their improvised sketches.

Laraib's father Raza, who is the founder of Active Life Club, the Evening Times Glasgow Community Champion Award-winning sports project Club, and mother Sabrina have also lent a hand in manipulating Aunty G while Laraib films.

Her close friends Sanah and Razia have driven her to further afield locations, as well as helping to generate ideas for sketches.

She also hopes to create a spin-off show for children.

"It is not going to be at the cinema or anything, but I hope it will have good longevity," she added.

"And I have chemo-brain, by the way. You should mention that. And I'm still able to do all this."

maureen.ellis@ eveningtimes.co.uk