What's your Why: Paul's Story
My dad said, ‘I’m a goner’ and a few weeks later he died from lung cancer’
After starting smoking as a ten-year-old, it took my dad being diagnosed with lung cancer to make me stop 42 years later as a 52-year-old says Paul.
Paul grew up on a council estate in the north-east in the 1950’s and 60’s where it was common for children to start smoking at an early age. Even his dad catching him smoking at an early age did nothing to stop him. ‘ We saw smoking as a something big and clever to do at the time. All the other kids were doing it. As a young man I continued to smoke while playing football twice a week. It was easy to do as you could smoke everywhere. As I got older, I lived abroad with my family in Gibraltar where I developed a taste for cigars’. Paul continues.
Paul returned to the UK living in Somerset, but moved back to the North-East, so his children could be close to their grandparents.
One day, he was visiting his parents and was surprised to come over mid-morning and find his father who got up at 6 am every day still in bed. Half an hour later his father was so ill, he hadn’t managed to get himself dressed and the family encouraged him to go to his doctor. Sadly, for his father and the family he was diagnosed with lung cancer and only given a short time to live. He was treated at the hospital in Newcastle but tragically it was too late, as the cancer had spread too far.
‘My dad, who was an old-fashioned man was as tough as old boots – a boxer who worked for British Rail all his life. When he was told he had lung cancer he became so emotional’.
‘After my dad was diagnosed, I was determined to give up. I didn’t use any substitutes but gave up by willpower and determination. It was really difficult, especially when I went out and everyone around me was smoking, particularly for the first few months. I did have a relapse but the second time I gave up, I managed to quit for good. Now I don’t miss smoking at all and no-one in my family smokes’. Continued Paul.
Today Paul has returned to Somerset and lives in Frome. ‘My dad’s illness and death made me want to do something to help others and support good causes- I started back in 2009 supporting the Bone Cancer Research Trust and now more local charities and have raised £35,000 in 5 years’
What advice would you give to others?
‘If people did a bit of research and looked at what smoking does to you, they would realise cigarettes can seriously affect your health and can kill you. If you experience a loved one dying from smoking and the pain they go through, it makes you think twice. My dad went from 11 1/2 stones to 6 ½ stones. He couldn’t walk or feed himself. This proud, fit man became a shadow of his former self.
‘ There is lots of support and advice out there nowadays - so if you want to give up, speak to your GP’.
