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Philip's story: "I hope my story will help inspire you to never start smoking or if you already started.. to stop."

L’histoire de Phillip : " Ne commencez jamais à fumer. "

I was born in 1955 in China. When I was 19 my sister and I moved to England to study English. This is where I also learned to smoke. All of my friends were smoking and I thought it would make me look more adult and cool if I smoked too. I also heard that smoking could make you feel more confident and creative so I tried it.  At first I didn’t like it, but I learned how to inhale and when I felt that buzz I was hooked.

By the time I moved to Canada in 1993 I was smoking up to 2 packs a day. I got a job at the Vancouver airport doing catering and many of my colleagues smoked along with me.  I continued smoking 2 packs a day until one day I was finding it a bit hard to breath, and I thought “this is ridiculous; I am smoking so much, it’s making it hard for me to breath, and I can’t believe how much money I am wasting on this, it’s so stupid!” I finally gave up smoking in 2007 and never touched another cigarette.  But, unfortunately, the damage was already done.

A few months ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and I’m currently undergoing chemotherapy. I know this is because of smoking so many cigarettes for so many years.  If I could come back in another life, I know I would never start smoking… never, ever.

If I could give young people some advice it would be this…Just don’t ever start, don’t even try it because you can become addicted very easily. It does NOT make you look more adult, it does NOT make you more creative or cool, it just suffocates you and makes it harder to breathe. It makes you sick and it can kill you.  Find something else to spend your money on and enjoy a happier, healthier life.  I wish I could do my life all over again, I wish I had never started smoking. 

I hope my story will help inspire you to never start smoking or if you already started.. to stop.