"Jcarr" (jcarr)
08/11/2015 at 09:46 • Filed to: Dadlopnik, Feels
5
12|
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
08/11/2015 at 09:46 • Filed to: Dadlopnik, Feels | 5
| 12 |
Some of you may not remember Peter Jennings. He was an anchor for ABC News, manning the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! desk from 1983 to 2005. His career spanned nearly 50 years and numerous major world events.
On April 5, 2005, Jennings informed World News Tonight viewers via a recorded message that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It would be his last appearance on television. On August 7, 2005, Jennings passed away.
At this time, I was a month away from starting my senior year in college. I remember seeing the news that Jennings had passed away and immediately feeling a pull in my heart to take action.
Jennings’ lung cancer had been a result of smoking. My dad, at that time, had been a smoker for 20+ years. He was a “closet” smoker, using cigarettes as mechanism to cope with stress. I had known this for a number of years, but had never taken action to get him to quit.
Something about Peter Jennings death pushed me over that edge. I saw that as my dad someday and I decided that I wouldn’t put up with his smoking any longer. On August 11, 2005, I called my dad and told him it was time for him to quit. I had no interest in burying him early due to something like this.
After an emotional conversation, he agreed to quit. To his credit, he stopped cold-turkey and today marks 10 years of freedom from tobacco.
While there is no guarantee that having stopped smoking will save my dad from a premature death, it certainly helps and has definitely improved his overall health. I am thankful every day that I made that call.
Hopefully this little story can serve as inspiration to you to either quit an addictive and destructive habit, or have a conversation with a loved one about them quitting.
Below is some information about what happens to your body after you quit smoking:
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 09:51 |
|
|
Jcarr
> SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
08/11/2015 at 10:04 |
|
Most specific meme ever.
Roundbadge
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 10:07 |
|
I quit smoking in 1998. In all fairness, I hadn’t smoked all that long, only 4-5 years...but I saw an opportunity to quit.
I smoked my last cigarette moments before jumping in a van and driving from SE Ohio to Yellowstone NP. The trip proved a nice distraction. I only had one episode of bad cravings on the entire trip, and really didn’t feel much else until I got back and had nothing to do one afternoon.
Sam
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 10:39 |
|
Smoking is for morons, plain and simple. And I’m not sorry to any smokers in the slightest. If you smoke, you are literally saying to the world that you reject science. I don’t care how much it sucks to quit, dying is quite a bit worse than a few months of discomfort.
My grandfather also quit cold turkey when he realised that he was smoking and drinking too much, so he just stopped. I think that was at least 20-30 years ago. He’s now 76 and is a cancer survivor (unrelated to the smoking and drinking, surprisingly enough). He was given about 5 months to live over 6 years ago. Now he’s travelling all over the place and still walks about 2 miles every morning and afternoon.
BKosher84
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 10:40 |
|
I remember watching him on 9/11.. Refusing to leave the anchor desk after being on television for a crazy number of hours.... Just.. Talking to the viewers like they were his family.... I really believe he helped the nation heal after that attack...
|
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 10:42 |
|
That’s the beauty of Brian Williams being there. It works for every situation.
MultiplaOrgasms
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 10:44 |
|
Peter Jennings definetely didn’t save my Dad’s life.
...
...
...
He quit by himself five years ago.
WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 11:00 |
|
As someone who smoked, this is good to hear. I started in 2007, and smoked regularly for 5 years. I quit when my daughter was born. Though, when I get stressed, or when I drink, the cravings do come back a bit. They’re hard to fight, but I do feel better than I did when I smoked.
I come from a family of smokers, especially on my mom’s side. When my grandmother had a heart attack in 2008, she quit cold turkey after 52 years of smoking. It hasn’t solved all of her health problems, as heart conditions run in the family, but she’s better than she was. My one uncle quit with her.
After my brother (non-smoker) had a heart attack in 2014, my mom quit, and stayed that way for awhile... until my aunt passed away two months ago from sudden cardiac arrest. She was a nearly lifelong smoker, and the stress caused my mom to pick it up again. I’m still trying to get her to quit.
I’m glad your dad listened to you. There’s nothing good about smoking. It’s a huge risk as we all know, and I cannot find any redeeming quality to it. I hope your dad sticks around for a long time. And I’m glad you cared (and still care) enough to actually talk to him. So often, that’s a conversation that ends in a fight with no success on either side. May he have many happy years.
|
Jcarr
> WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
08/11/2015 at 11:01 |
|
Thank you, and good luck to you with your mom.
Moves-Like-Senna
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 11:51 |
|
I’m currently on day 10 of trying to quit again. This time I was at 1.5 packs (25 king size) a day)
|
Jcarr
> Moves-Like-Senna
08/11/2015 at 12:05 |
|
Keep going! Best of luck to you!
|
Moves-Like-Senna
> Jcarr
08/11/2015 at 12:37 |
|
Honestly, props to your dad. Something most smokers will never understand, it just how hard it is to quit. It is the hardest thing a smoker will ever do in his or her life and I applaud anyone who can quit and refuse to provide cigarettes or anything to help non-smoking friends to smoke. Once you have that one cigarette you enjoy.. life is never the same.