I will say one last thing about smoking, I was a smoker, I got cancer from it, they had to cut part of my tongue out and full next dissection, have trouble moving my right arm, and all my teeth removed my life changed forever because of smoking. How dare me, how dare your doctor, how dare anyone, that would say stop smoking. You don,t like my presentation, sounds like im angry I really don,t care what you think.
I have paid a price to have this opinion of smoking. I buried 3 other freinds from smoking.
Sure you can get cancer from other things and good old Gorge Burns smoke for 90 years, but the fact remains smoking will kill you in more ways than just cancer. We have been emotionally tied to our addictions because excuses make it easyer to deal with what we did to ourself.
Smoking has been socially acceptable for years. Now things are changing, people have had enough of it, just like anything else change is hard.
How bad do you want to live. How bad do you want your children or your grandchildren to have it.
Oh Dad smoke or Grandpa smoke why can,t I.
I am sorry for those of you that are having problems watching others smoke, I still do, What really is sad people don,t care enough to stop smoking in front of us. Why is that???

The publics view of this cancer as being a "smokers" cancer is part of the problem in making others aware that they need to have their oral exams or that they need to have lesions and sores in their mouths checked even if they do not smoke. For non-smokers to think it really matters how they feel about smokers is total arrogance and it attaches a horrible stigma to this devastating cancer. I have the same feelings about an oral cancer patient that didn't smoke as I do for one that smoked for 30 years. My mother was just at my home for a week, she still smokes. Am I supposed to be angry at her? Am I supposed to rail and ask why me and not her? How selfish is that. She's addicted, she has tried to quit with no success. It's her demon, not mine and I am not going to judge her for it as her smoking has nothing to do with me.
So, non-smokers, please know that your attitude is one of the biggest battles that oral cancer victims face..........the publics belief that "they caused their cancer so why feel bad for them". And the public doesn't stop to consider that maybe this patient didn't smoke.......so that negative attitude hurts even the non smoking OC patients. Now THAT is unfair, THAT is what we should be battling.......not sitting here judging others for an addiction.

I agree with the point that non-smokers shouldn't think they'll escape getting Oral cancer because they don't smoke. & it isn't right that people assume you should have done something to get cancer. I had a PM recently from someone asking me 'what did you do to get cancer' Hello??? i didn't DO anything thankyou very much! That emphasises people ignorance that non-smokers can & do get H&N cancers to. But facts are facts, and statisticaly smoking is the common denominator, and that is what is pulisized most. Perhaps there need to be more campaigns to raise awareness amongst non-smokers too.

I wholly accept that smokers (and cancer survivors) have the right NOT to be judged. I don't pretend to know what a smoker goes thru in trying to quit, because I don't. However, I think I have the right NOT to breathe the smoker's smoke. Nobody smokes in front of me. I don't go anyplace where people smoke. I feel I have the right to say what comes into my house especially if it is smoke. When my smoker son comes to my house, he smokes outside no matter how cold it gets and no one nags him about it. He also smokes outside at his own house. My non-smoker son had a girlfriend a while back who was a smoker and whenever she was with him at my son's house, she wore a nicotine patch that he bought for her. If I travel by car with a smoker, I tell them about how I get violent headaches when I'm around smoke and that they cannot smoke in my car but I am very happy to make as many stops as they wish for them to smoke outside my car. Or we can use two cars.

dogman is mad at himself for apparently not quitting smoking years ago when his parents or someone else advised him to quit. we all suffer someway in life and pointing fingers doesn't stop it. Be Happy with what you have and that you still have your mind in working order. We are all to blame for our mistakes and must live with them..have a great day all!!!!!!

Here's a blog for the smokers (for smokers rights) and may I say personally, thank you for improving my survivability odds!

And one for anti-amokers:

http://www.stop-smoking-updates.com/quitsmoking/blogs/0.htm

Feel free to join one or both of these these blogs. "Fair and Balanced".

OCF position is smoking inherently unhealthy for you.

See: http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/tobacco/index.htm

I am closing this topic because it will never get any resolution and we can better use the bandwidth. It's also getting too personal.

This thread is now closed, as it is not producing anything positive anymore. Bottom line is we are all responsible for our actions be it as a driver, smoker, consumer of junk foods, and so much more. That bad choices in many areas of our lives are going to come back to bite us is not a revelation. We are getting fatter as a nation, and because of that we have coronary and other health issues mounting. This is only one of many lifestyle choices that leads to bad health. The list is long, but it is all around us.

We should be involved in tobacco awareness and cessation as oral cancer survivors and patients. But that awareness is lost on people who are already part of our family here. We need more people educating our kids before they start, (outdoortexan kind of work) a government that will finally get this poison off our streets instead of being more interested in making money from this highly profitable crop, that is the single most preventable cause of disease and death in our country and around the world we export to. If we become strong anti tobacco advocates in the public arena with our stories it does good, if we beat each other up here it does nothing. Revelation at a point in life where you cannot undo the problem you now recognize is particularly painful. I would prefer this board not become a vehicle to add to that pain.