FOR many people, a dry cough usually isn't cause for concern, particularly in winter if it's caused by cold or flu.

But for Rafaela Ribeiro, 24, it turned out to be one of the first signs of an aggressive cancer "crushing" her insides.

Recalling other symptoms she experienced, the mum-of-two shed nearly three stone at the start of this year, which she put down to just simple losing weight.

“I thought everything was fine, that I was just losing weight very quickly,” Rafaela, a real estate agent from São Paulo, Brazil said.

“I never imagined it would be anything more serious.”

But Rafaela was soon diagnosed with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma , a rare and aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system.

She said: “It started with a constant dry cough , and then came the swelling in my neck

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