São Paulo, Brazil — A 24-year-old mother of two learned her long on going dry cough was not a passing illness but B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare and aggressive cancer pressing against her vital organs.
Initially, she didn't think much of her cough and unexplained weight loss. “I thought it was just stress or maybe an allergy,” she said.
But eventually she discovered that a few lumps have appeared in her neck and armpits, and swallowing solid food became nearly impossible.
Doctors discovered tumors were “crushing her internal organs,” including her esophagus and heart.
The diagnosis came as a shock, to the whole family. “I never imagined something so small, like a cough, could be cancer,” she recalled.
She was advised to start the treatment immediately with chemotherapy, but complications struck when she got exposed to a hospital-acquired infection.
She was placed in a medically induced coma for nine days. “The doctors told my husband I might not make it through the night,” she said.
Her husband, Michell, stood strong by her side throughout. “He was the one who held everything together when I couldn’t,” she added.
Against severe odds, she survived it all and entered remission, and is now preparing for CAR-T cell therapy, a pioneering immunotherapy that engineers her own immune cells to attack cancer.
Medical experts warn that her case underscores the danger of overlooking persistent symptoms. A research paper published in The Lancet Oncology said that non-Hodgkin lymphoma often presents with vague signs such as cough, fatigue, or weight loss, leading to delays in diagnosis.(1)
One of the BMJ Case Reports said that patients with a chronic cough are frequently treated for asthma or reflux before more serious conditions are identified.(2)
For patients like the 24-year-old mother, this urgency explains why her symptoms escalated so suddenly and why doctors moved quickly to begin therapy. Blood Cancer Journal said that younger patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma often develop fast-growing, bulky tumors, which means every week counts in getting the right treatment.(3)
For the young mother, survival has brought new perspective.
Doctors say her experience is a significant reminder that one must not overlook small but persistent changes in the body.
Another recent news from USA about a 14 year old Boy's persistent shoulder ache being cancer in disguise was in the discussions recently.(4)
Doctor's stress about identifying your symptoms soon enough and the need to go for regular check ups.
The BMJ said that when a cough doesn’t improve with routine treatments, patients should seek further tests.(5)
“I never imagined something so small, like a cough, could be cancer,” she admitted.
References:
Armitage, James O., and Dennis A. Carson. “Lymphoma: Diagnosis and Treatment.” The Lancet Oncology 19, no. 11 (2018): e435–e446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30442-X.
Manabe, Akira, Hiroshi Shimizu, Yuko Kuroda, and Koji Yamaguchi. “Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma Presenting as Persistent Cough in a Young Woman.” BMJ Case Reports 14, no. 5 (2021): e241013. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2020-241013.
Vitolo, Umberto, and Chiara Ghielmini. “Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma in Young Patients.” Blood Cancer Journal 12, no. 1 (2022): 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-021-00626-9.
https://www.medboundtimes.com/usa/ewing-sarcoma-teen-survivor-misdiagnosis
Barraclough, Kevin. “Chronic Cough in Adults.” BMJ 338 (2009) https://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.b1218
(Rh/Eth/ARC/MSM)