Tobacco.org

TURNER: Dying from effects of smoking isn't worst of it 

This is a very emotional subject for me; it's about my own personal holocaust. If it's graphic, it's supposed to be. It's about what a lifetime of smoking can do to you. I know that it's a smoker's right to choose to smoke, but I think smokers also have a right to know what they're choosing. And I think that when you've read this, you'll know why I implore smokers to quit.

You see, my mother smoked for 44 years . . .

It's been suggested, perhaps facetiously, that since the average smoker dies seven years sooner than the average nonsmoker, and since medical costs for the elderly are so high, if everyone quit smoking and lived longer it could actually mean increases in medical spending. Well, at the time of my Mom's death, there would be no savings, not in money, and not in sorrow and pain. You see, the scary thing is that you might not die from the effects of smoking; you might just have to live with them.

My Mom, Marie Creviere, passed away May 13, 2002, at the age of 77. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer, another smoking-related illness, just three weeks before. Mom decided that she'd suffered through enough surgery and chemo, and chose to reduce her feedings. So, she starved to death. . .

Please, smokers, quit smoking.

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