The Great American Smokeout

St. Mary’s class helps couple kick 50-year habit

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. According to the CDC, more than 480,000 people die from a smoking related illness each year - which is about 1 in 5 of all deaths in the United States.

In addition, smoking is one of the leading causes of lung cancer, which is the third most common cancer in the United States, according to the CDC. More people – men and women – die from lung cancer than any other cancer.

The Great American Smokeout celebrates breaking free from smoking. Join thousands of people around the country quitting smoking on November 16 in order to create a healthier life.

The process does not have to be difficult. St. Mary’s can help your plans in quitting. Todd Drake, a respiratory therapist at St. Mary’s Hospital and a former smoker, is ready and willing to help. He leads St. Mary’s Freedom from Smoking class.

One participant’s story

Because the journey to freedom is so intensely personal, many ex-smokers are reluctant to talk about it. We are deeply grateful to Stephen and Cheryl Lambert for sharing their story with us. St. Mary’s honors all those who make the attempt to break free. We are here to help when you are ready.

Q. What is your history with smoking?

1. Up until we quit this year, my husband and I had both smoked for 50 years each.

Q. What impact did smoking have on you and your family and friends?

1. In the early parts of smoking, it was more of a social thing. All of our friends and most of our family smoked. Through the years, that changed as we moved into different jobs and our family began to quit smoking. Smoking also started to become somewhat taboo and hard to do. I traveled internationally a lot, and there were very limited places to smoke, like in restaurants. It just got harder to be a smoker. It also got very expensive to be a smoker. Over our 50 years of smoking, it transitioned from a social thing to more of an outcast thing.

Q. Have you tried to quit before?

1. Yes, several times. About 6 or 7 times.

Q. What motivated you to break free?

1. This last time we started to quit, our main motivation was my husband’s health. He needed to quit because he had several health conditions -- and smoking was not helping them. Once he was willing to try to quit, I was right there with him.

Q. What about this program enabled you to succeed?

1. Just going to the program on a regular basis and talking about quitting helped us. I had tried to quit before and it was really hard, so I don't know if it was the multiple weeks of talking about quitting and you are kind of psyching yourself up. I was really dreading quit day. But, come quit day, I have never had another cigarette since. I did use nicotine lozenges. It just wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I think it was because of the middle build up to prepare you for quitting.

In the program, Todd preaches to not be brave and think you can overcome everything -- take advantage of all of the stop smoking aids out there that can help you become a non-smoker. That’s exactly what we did. My husband quit a week early ahead of the quit day, and he did quite well.

Q. What are you doing to ensure that you maintain your life as a non-smoker?

1. I am not really doing anything different. I am still using nicotine lozenges when I really want a cigarette. I am using Todd’s advice and taking advantage of the products out there.

Q. Is anything different now that you’ve stopped smoking?

1. I can tell a little bit of difference health wise. I was pretty active in the gym while smoking, but I didn’t see a lot of health benefits, even in my doctor’s visits. My husband’ health has gotten significantly better. Just the cost savings from not smoking has really been felt. Not having to find a place to smoke, not having to run to the store to buy cigarettes. A lot of the worries and things I had to think about before, along with the stress is gone.

Q. How long have you been a non-smoker?

1. Since February of this year, so 8 months. I don't ever see us going back.

Freedom from Smoking is a program created by the American Lung Association and is the most successful smoking cessation program in the United States. Todd is a certified instructor and offers St. Mary’s Freedom from Smoking class twice a year. The next session begins in early January 2024. For more information or to register, please call (706) 389-2915.

For more information about Freedom from Smoking, visit the American Lung Association.