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Karla H., KS

My mom got lung cancer at age 71. She went through 5 chemos and 22 radiations and died 14 months after diagnosis. My sister got lung cancer at age 45 she went through a lung removal, 14 chemos and 40 radiations. She died 16 months after diagnosis. I moved both of them into my home and took care of them till the day they died myself started smoking at age 14 and now have severe COPD. I am on 3 kinds of meds and as the years go by I find it harder and harder to do normal things like walking up stairs, carrying laundry, yard work the list goes on and on. I'm 57 now. My point is, the meds are helping to prolong the end result of having to have O2. I quit smoking with the help of medication. Yes, it's hard to quit but it is oh so much harder to go through the pain of lung cancer and the pain of losing your family to this is. No one could tell me that when I was younger. I thought it can't happen to me. Oh how I'd give anything to go back in time and warn my family what smoking is going to do to us. Eventually all bad comes from smoking. Here are my stats from: six years, three months, one week, three days, 10 hours, 6 minutes and 19 seconds. 80304 cigarettes not smoked, saving $18,068.89. Life saved: 39 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 0 minutes. And still I have a hard time breathing and can't do what I'd like, so the damage is done and can't be undone.

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