I Have a Crush on a Smoker

 

 

Post written by CHC member Daniel Broome

Daniel serves at the American Cancer Society at Stroger Hospital as a Patient Navigator

Smokers. We all know a few. Some are our elders who we know better than to chastise. Some are our friends. Odds are there are probably a few smokers in our network who we are quite fond of.

Photo Credit: http://niketalk.com

I have a friend who smokes, and I like her a lot. I have had a crush on her since I first met her last summer. I teased her once about the smoking, and all my playful jibe earned me was a side-long glare that I enjoyed more than I probably should have. But I still felt bad, because these days most people know the risks of smoking. So what do I tell someone who already knows?

Serving with the American Cancer Society [ACS] has allowed me the special privilege of directly serving the patients of John H. Stroger hospital. Those of us who come here to serve day in and day out, consider ourselves on the frontlines of the battle for the health of the community.

One enemy to our community’s health is cigarette smoke. The number of patients we treat who have smoked for more than a decade is staggering. The number of patients who are receiving treatment and continue to smoke is even more disheartening.

A recent study on the trends of female smokers reported that “…the risk of female smokers dying from lung cancer was 25.7 times higher than the risk in nonsmokers. The risk of dying from COPD was 22.5 times higher than that for nonsmokers.” That means that I have a higher chance of watching my crush get cancer or suffer from COPD, than I do of taking her out on a date.

In addition to my light-hearted fantasy, I also have family members and close friends who smoke. If you have a loved one who smokes, and you are looking for a new angle to encourage their smoking cessation, the ACS has a number of resources available. Please review these resources and continue to educate your friends and loved ones about the largely avoidable risks of smoking cigarettes.