Hi George

I too, had an oral cancer scare and gave them up. Wasn't easy. But you can do it. If you'll indulge me a moment, you might find what I write next inspiring. Or maybe gross and a little bit interesting.

I have a very close family member who started smoking very young. By the time I got to know him (he married into the family), he was a four pack a day smoker (I kid you not). He was such a heavy smoker that, I suppose like many addictions, it became as much a thing he did as it was an actual part of him -- like an appendage or a tattoo he'd always had. So much so that we all knew he was a heavy smoker but never actively thought about it, because it was always there and it just always was... So much so that while I imagine his wife and kids nagged him to quit, we other family members would never have imagined, or dared, to suggest he quit. Not because we didn't care, but because him not smoking was just to ... unimaginable.

I hope I'm stressing enough just how incredibly prevalent, indelible, etc his smoking was. Let's be brutally frank -- smoking 80 cigarettes a day takes some serious dedication.

He had a heart attack in 1999. Not surprising, really, but it was serious, although ultimately overcomeable, provided he changed things up. I'll be honest - as much as we were all rooting for him to quit (and we were - he is much beloved), none of us really thought he would or could. Given his condition, he was unable to use any aids like gum or a patch, so cold turkey was his only option.

Sure, the first five or six days in the hospital were a piece of cake. He had stents in his artery, he felt like hell and you can't smoke in a hospital room. But he soon returned to a house in which he had smoked for 30 years. A car in which he smoked constantly. His own small business - he owned the building so he smoked in it at will. And a wife and grown children who made a vow not to interfere and not to nag because they believed that part of his recovery was entirely up to him.

George, he's not so much as touched a cigarette since the day he was admitted 10 years ago. Not a single one.

So the end of the story is predictable, right? If he can do it, anyone can. And you can.