Quit Smoking While You Are Young Kerris Story

Quit Smoking While You Are Young Kerris Story Addiction Coping and Recovery Personal Stories Print Quit Smoking While Youre Young Young Smokers Can Die, Too By Terry Martin facebook twitter Terry Martin quit smoking after 26 years and is now an advocate for those seeking freedom from nicotine addiction. Learn about our editorial policy Terry Martin Updated on June 24, 2019 Kerri More in Addiction Coping and Recovery Personal Stories Methods and Support Overcoming Addiction Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Nicotine Use The follow message was written by  About Smoking Cessation support forum  member Kerri, who shared her journey as she quit smoking. From Kerri: When I was a smoker, I had every excuse in the book to continue to be one, but my favorite one to pull out of my hat was my youth. I would say, My uncle Arthur smoked from the time he was 16 to the day he died at age 80. My aunt Del has been smoking since she was a teenager. Nothing is going to happen to me now, only during the BAD part of my life, the end part! So I continued to smoke. I LOVED to smoke. It was a huge part of my social life, my alone time, my escape. But being an active young person with a family, my limitations were becoming more and more painfully apparent. I couldnt chaperone field trips. I couldnt go to more than one store and bring my kids. I couldnt go to the movies. I couldnt race my kids down the street or even toss a Frisbee for any length of time. Not only that, my circle of friends didnt really smoke anymore, so I found myself either sneaking or just turning down evenings out for fear of being the odd man out.Then one day, my son heard me coming home from Happy Hour with my co-workers. He greeted me with:  I knew you were home mom. I recognized your cough.At 31, I now had a recognizable, nagging cough. This is not normal for a 31-year-old woman. Warnings from the Stories of Others I started reading more into other peoples stories, finding myself fixating on those who were my age. I found a library of them at whyquit.com. There is Noni, who died when her son was only months old. Her husband celebrated their childs first birthday without her. She was a victim of small cell lung cancer. Noni was just 33 years old. Impossible.  It must have been a fluke, bad genes, just one of those things.  Unfortunately, it was not. The Story of Bryan There was the story of Bryan, a 34 year old man who died of lung cancer, leaving his little boy without a father. A tough guy, a construction worker, who had smoked since he was 14, he was reduced to a mere shell of a man. The Story of Barb And yet another story, about a woman named  Barb Tarbox. Barb tells a tragic tale of smoking to fit in as a teenager, never thinking anything bad would happen, especially while she was young. Barb got lung cancer at 41 and suddenly faced leaving her daughter without a mother, and watching her suffer while she died. The Day I Met Kery What drove me to write this was a chance meeting I had the other day with a 31 year old woman who shares the same name as me. Talk about spooky fate. Kery was just diagnosed with the early stages of emphysema. She has to quit if she is to have a chance at life. She is my age! She has 3 children, and  emphysema could suffocate her to death right in front of them. Its not cancer; this time its another lung disease.I have been one of the lucky ones. I dont know if I would have been one of the tragic stories above or if I would be blessed with a long life like my Uncle Arthur. What if I wasnt? Would I want to be the one to sit my young children down and explain to them that they were going to have to find their own way in the world because I was dying due to a poison I couldnt resist? My Leap to Freedom I made my leap into freedom on  January 8th, 2004.  I find the sheer freedom from smoking exhilarating. And because I quit young, I have the rest of my life to do WHATEVER I want, breathing with ease the whole time, without slavery, living my long life the way I CHOOSE, not chained to an addiction. I can run, I can swim, I can be as active or as inactive as I want. I gave myself ME back, and I have my whole life to enjoy that feeling.I still have to worry if I quit in time, but not nearly as much as I would worry if I waited another 10, 20 or 30 years to quit. The thing about this addiction is that it doesnt just lose its grip eventually. Quitting is a choice you have to make. It will cling on even while you are dying of cancer. Bryan, as mentioned above, smoked up until the week before he died. He gave himself only one week of freedom. No One Is Immune but Everyone Can Choose We have the choice to make for ourselves. This is not a dress rehearsal, this is the only YOU you will ever get. Do you want to purposefully risk cutting it short or live a long life full of excitement, freedom and loved ones?It CAN happen to you. You always think its on the other side of the fence, but not this time. Cigarettes do not kill a specific group of people. No one is immune to the hazards of tobacco, not celebrities, not the young and not the old. Even non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke are at risk.Love this life youve been given. Love yourself. Appreciate the fact that others love you and dont play Russian roulette with yourself.~Kerri~ More from Kerri:  Kerris Quit Story