Certainly that's possible, except that, given the length of time my father smoked (probably closer to 50 years), it is probably statistically more probable that the disease would have become apparent while he was still smoking, not shortly thereafter. Also, my father didn't have breathing troubles or any other significant health problems. He was actually quite healthy for a 67 year-old.
I agree. Some folks just can't think outside the box or think that anecdotal evidence is just stupid. They are really the people that go thru life with their head up their rear; the ones that can't see the forest thru the trees.
While I think that folks who die 5, 10 or 20 years after quitting smoking may be stretching this theory a bit, I think there are too many of us with first hand "anecdotal evidence" that this can be discounted with the wave of a hand.