Dear Editor,
The National Health Service in the UK is using shock advertising tactics to stop people smoking. I stopped smoking on my 65th birthday because I wanted to enjoy my retirement after smoking three packs a day (roll-up equivalent) for 50 years.
I stopped smoking with no problems at all in April 2011 and within six months I had the worst cough I’d ever had. My leg muscles pack up after 100 metres and I can’t climb steps without getting breathless and a racing heart. I’m permanently tired.
In fact, a recent lung scan tells me I have emphysema. Whether the ciggies were to blame or my industrial work life we’ll never know, but if I could have my time again, I would have said ‘No to Nicotine’ 50 years ago.
They say the average smoker smokes 5,000 cigarettes a year. Sounds a lot. I smoked 21,900 a year – at 25 cents each at today’s prices that’s €547,500. Crikey! That’s a few houses and cars I never got.
My life is virtually at an end now as the doctors tell me at 66 there is no cure as lungs don’t self-repair like the liver does.
I’ll be on an inhaler forever and severely restricted in my actions. Take my advice and stop smoking now; it doesn’t hurt half as much as having emphysema and a limited future.
Graham Cockroft
By email
