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I am responding to the survey for my mother who passed away June 2008 from cigarette smoking caused Lung Cancer.

ARE YOU A FORMER TOBACCO USER???
7th Grade Science Fair

SURVEY

1. How old are you currently?
Deceased

2. How many years have you smoked or chewed tobacco?
60 years (with some breaks over the years - see below)

3. How old were you when you started smoking or chewing?
20 years old

4. How long (mo./yrs.) have you been free from tobacco use?
Last two years before death.
Quit when symptoms (later diagnosed with lung cancer), made it impossible to breathe or smoke.

5. Who/What influenced you to start smoking or chewing tobacco?
Was in Nursing School during the 1940’s and everybody smoked.

6. Are you currently using tobacco product(s) regularly? How often?
No, deceased.

7. Have you tried to QUIT using tobacco products? How many attempts?
Quit for a couple years five different times.

8. How many cigarettes or cans of chewing tobacco do/did you use per day?
1 - 1 1/2 packs per day.

9. Does anyone in your immediate family use tobacco products regularly/daily? How often?
Husband (a physician) smoked 1 - 1 1/2 packs until 1961. He quit cold turkey and never smoked again. Died in 1993.
None of their five children smoke.

10. Do you believe tobacco use is an addictive substance?
Yes.

11. If you are now NOT using tobacco; what method did you use to quit successfully long-term? (highlight one)
a. Group Therapy
b. Nicotine patch or gum
c. Medications or Antidepressants
d. Cold-turkey
e. Hypnosis
f. Other _____________(please list)

d She always quit cold turkey.

12. Since quitting tobacco use, would you say your level of overall physical and mental health has: (highlight one)
a. Grown worse
b. Some what improved
c. Improved greatly
d. Stayed the same as before

c improved greatly

13. What is the most significant lifestyle change you’ve made since quitting tobacco use? (explain)
She could breathe better. Had more energy. Enjoyed smells.

__ PERSONAL COMMENTS:

My mother died June 2008. She was 81 1/2 years old. She was in excellent health other than the lung cancer.

When she was first diagnosed with lung cancer, the type associated with smoking, she denied it and went to great lengths to prove the doctors wrong.

A year after chemotherapy and remission, the cancer returned. She realized that she was going to die and felt ashamed that she had ended her own life by smoking.