I went to a Country Music Festival this weekend with some freinds and there were lots of vendors there giving away free stuff. Well one of the Vendors was a smokeless Tobacco company, My friends signed up to get the free can of 'chew" , they wanted me to and I told them NO WAY ..they looked at me as though they didnt understand !!! SO to them and EVERY ONE in the tent ....(politley of course ) said "DO you see this ( pointing to scar on my neck) That is one of the leading causes of this cancer .....WHY would I want it ?

DO you know what they said ? ...." So you can give it to somone who does ..it is FREE.. I replied ..louldy but politley

" YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME HANDING THAT TO ANYONE ..I MAY AS JUST CUT OUT THEIR TONGUE "

Well some people turned and walked out .. as long as one person did ....mission accomplished !!

some of the people working for the vendor apologised and I said Hey ....if you are going to give it out or sell it people need to know the risk !!

My friends however proceeded to take it , cus it was free ...More power to them and the people they gave it to is all I can say !!! oh ya and

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO .....Are you even In there ...has it been that LONG? that you have forgotten ? do you see the scar and the tumor now from the surgery and the lesion on the right side now ? And you go give it to your husband ??? Well that my friend is a sign of true LOVE !!


Oh well to each there own right ...But because of this ...( i am starting tomorrow ) I am going to start calling around and see if I can get a place at some of the county fairs and hand out brochures on Oral Cancer awareness and even going to contact some local dentist to see if they will do free screenings !!!


Shar

Good for you Sharlee! Way to go!

Brenda

Sharlee, I remember well how my husband would gladly take the free chew and the t-shirt and the coupons at these fairs. Now its a different story. In fact one of the first things my husband did was to throw away the t-shirt!!! I too tell everyone about smokeless tobacco. MY husband chewed for 30 years. Dr. says it takes up to 25 years to show up!!! What a lesson to learn. We need to make our young people know about it. LJ

Sharlee, Way to go, am proud of you and your husband. I have never used any tobaccoo products in my life, my cancer was caused by the HPV virus. Keep up the great work. Bob

Sharlee - Good for you! Wouldn't it be something if the OCF booth could be near the "free-chew" booth?? And we could encourage everyone to go get the chew and the T-Shirt and then throw them away (destroying them first)? That is probably too evil of me. . . if so, I apologize. I think some pictures like "Outdoor Texan" has on his site may emphasize the message, too. Plus pics of what some of our survivors have had to experience. Thanks, Sharlee, for the tremendous job you are doing!

Sharlee,

You are just hilarious! I can picture the scene. Thanks for posting that story, it really made me smile.

Redser

Sharlee,
My best friend is a long time smoker. His dad died a few years ago of lung cancer (from smoking). I really thought this was going to sway him. I know it hit home, but it wasn't enough to change him.
Then I got oral cancer last year (although I never smoked or chewed). Again I thought it would be enough to scare him. But that tobacco has him by the claws. I think what you're doing is pretty cool. Even if it only saves one, it's worth the effort. Many of us I'm sure would not have been as brave to speak up.

I think what you are doing is outstanding!

I was a 16 year smoker who watched his father die of lung cancer. I made a weak attempt a quitting but failed after my father's death. Once I was dx'd with BOT cancer I quit PDQ, but the best thing is because of my cancer, my wife, my brother, a good friend and several colleagues from work have all quit. It may be a little late for me but hopefully they have quit in time.

All I'm saying is everyone can quit it's all about the right motivation and for me getting over the it won't happen to me mentality because it did. I thought that tobacco had me for life, maybe it did...

Tim - Good for you - for providing the motivation so that several people have quit smoking. I'm sure their families and loved ones are ever so grateful. My younger son - a non-smoker - had cancer. My older son, (five years older) a 20 yr+ smoker never had cancer and I wish I knew what his "motivation" might be to quit. After the fear, the anxiety and the emotional pain of having one son experiencing the horror of a cancer diagnosis and treatment, I just don't know how I could ever go thru the same thing again with another of my children. For many, motivation does not seem to be love of family or concerns about health. I've printed out info from this site and others re smoking and plan to bring it up with him when his life is a little more stress-free than it is now (I try not to nag him). I've never smoked so I'm sort of at a disadvantage in not really understanding how difficult it is to quit. I sometimes wonder if bribery would work - i.e. if I had a million dollars to give him to quit, would that work?? Would anyone be able to quit if bribed? Tim, what did you do or say that encouraged your family and friends to quit? What is your secret weapon?

My wife quit because she knew if she kept smoking I would too. My brother quit as a solidarity gesture, because he stayed with us in Texas when I went through the treatment. He really never said he quit for life, just that day, but it's been a year for him now. Two folks at work quit because I was their main smoking buddy and they said I ruined it because they couldn't have a smoke without thinking of me. So you see it was no magic from me, they just found the reason to motivate themselves to quit. It comes from with in, but it takes an external push. That's my take. Of course 1 million dollars would make me quit too