Big well done to Wakefield local, Jo! In her own words, she tells us about her journey to becoming smoke free!
I started smoking around age 44 as a means to cope through a traumatic time in my life. I was soon smoking many cigarettes and roll ups sometimes up to 100 a day, I had turned into a massive chain smoker and the more family and friends nagged me to stop the more I smoked (I’ve noticed smokers seem to be defiant to being told to stop)
I developed bad skin, bad breath and looked grey plus developing lines and wrinkles I had never had before, I had always had very good skin so I know it was the smoking to blame. I constantly had a cough and was out of breath so easily to the point I had to have 2 chest x-rays since smoking to make sure I didn’t have lung cancer – scary!
The turning point came after I took a close friends little girl to her appointment at the opticians, outside after the appointment I was coughing and spluttering while rolling a cigarette she looked at me and simply said “does smoking make you sick Auntie Jo?” I was stunned nobody had ever used the word ‘sick’ and it was so true, yes it did make me ‘sick’ I answered “yes it does” her response to me was “why don’t you stop then?” and that simple conversation with a clever little girl put the ball rolling into action for me.
I found the number for the NHS Stop Smoking Service on Google and they quickly got me an appointment with a lovely lady called Helen Town at Pinderfields Hospital. I cannot recommend this service enough, it’s simply brilliant. Helen is very, very encouraging and the patches and inhalator are superb. In a few weeks my Carbon Monoxide reading has gone from 48ppm to 0ppm (nothing over 2 so far!) you are weaned off gradually and to say I smoked up to 100 a day I do not miss smoking at all. Helen tells me well done every week and the massive encouragement from my kids because they are so proud of me keeps me going.
Thank you so much for this service, I really could not have stopped without it.
If you feel inspired by Jo's story and would like support in quitting smoking, register for a Callback Request today.
