My best buddy is about my age (early 40's). He has been a smoker for the 20 years I've known him and well before that. His dad died several years ago from H/N cancer believed to be from a lifetime of smoking. I really thought that would be the trigger to make him stop smoking himself, but it didn't.

Then when I was diagnosed, not even having been a smoker, I thought that would be the trigger. It wasn't. Even after he has seen the hell I've been through with the treatments and the surgeries, he doesn't even seem interested in trying to quit. I keep telling him, bud, you don't want to do this. It's not too late...you can quit and get your body on the path to recovery. But the pull is too strong and he doesn't seem to have the will to fight it.

I've never been a smoker so I can't imagine, but I've seen how incredibly strong the addition can be, even in the face of events which would seem to put a lot of fear into a person.
-Steve