Quit Smoking Painlessly Now!

I was pointed to watch the video of Mr Mohammad Abdooh, a terminally-ill smoker who shared his last days with LifeBeforeDeath.

Mr Abdooh had picked up smoking at the age of 12. He was a chain smoker that puffed 60 sticks a day easily. Until he was diagnosed with cancer at 45, life had been good for him. He was a family man who had big dreams. He and his wife, Madam Elly Sukmawarni had plans to set up another chicken stall and go on their second honeymoon. Their plans were shattered when he contracted lung cancer and died at age 46 on 20 November 2006.

Sigh… many smokers do not realise that the pain and suffering extend beyond their premature deaths, when family members struggle with the reality of losing not just their loved ones but often also their family’s bread winners.

The video at LifeBeforeDeath aims to urge smokers to quit smoking because it is too late. According to his wife “My husband knew what cancer was from the front of the cigarette packet (see diagram on left) but it did not become reality until he coughed up blood.”

Many smokers smoked until a ripe old age without having any serious health problems. We know the late Winston Churchill and Deng Xiaoping smoked like chimneys. So although many smokers knows that nicotine, tars and other harmful chemicals in the cigarettes will cause cancer and respiratory related diseases, many willfully chose to adopt an attitude of invulnerability, thinking that such trauma will not hit them.

Madam Elly has these words of advice for smokers too. “If you want to quite, quit right away. You may feel okay now, but by the time you get cancer, it will be too late.

“The cancer from his lungs spread all over his body, even to his eyes, blinding him … He even coughed up blood”

“Before he died, he told me that he wished he had never smoked”

Check out LifeBeforeDeath. Filmed mostly in Mohammad’s home, the video documentary consists of six episodes that chronicles Mohammad’s final journey towards death, and reveals the amazing psyche of the resilient patient fighting his cancer and the tender love that underpins his life.

Source: The Straits Times’ Mind Your Body, 16 Jan 2008

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