My dad would have been 49 this month. When his birthday rolled around, I thought about how there are days when I really wish he were here to see the kids, to be a familiar presence. To call me “kiddo” one more time.
He died of a massive heart attack in August 2013. We’ve been without him for almost a year and a half now, and while it gets easier, when I think about the circumstances surrounding his death, I can’t help but get a little angry and a lot sad.
His heart attack was caused by a perfect storm of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and being overweight. But my dad was aso a smoker. A heavy smoker. A cigarette every 12 minutes smoker.
We nagged and pleaded and nagged some more for him to stop. We coughed incessantly and obnoxiously whenever he lit up. We complained about the smell. But he was addicted. He would never have admitted that, but he was.
He tried to stop at least a handful of times, cold turkey, with medication, just cutting back on how many. He started smoking outside and we thought maybe the freezing cold January air would make him quit. It didn’t. Nothing did.
When he had his heart attack, one of the possible scenarios was for him to be placed on the transplant list where he would await a donor heart. While that would not have worked because his heart was too damaged by the heart attack, he wouldn’t have been allowed on the list anyway, and the number one reason why was because he was a lifelong smoker.
Because of his smoking addiction, he wouldn’t have been eligible for placement on the transplant list had he been strong enough to make it that far. He would have had to live with a portable bypass machine and be smoke free for an entire calendar year before being placed on the list, and then he would have had to wait for a heart. Chances are good he wouldn’t have made it that long, but that wait wouldn’t have been so daunting if he hadn’t been a smoker.
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There aren’t a lot of health care related companies who are in the business of helping people stop smoking, but CVS is one of those companies. In 2014, CVS stopped selling tobacco and all tobacco-related products in ALL of its stores. Then it launched Minute Clinic smoking cessation programs in each of its stores.
(Did you know that CVS has vowed to have a Minute Clinic within 10 miles of every residence? That’s pretty fantastic, right?)
The Start to Stop smoking cessation program includes individualized counseling, ongoing coaching to help quitters quit, and nicotine-replacement when applicable. (There’s also a weight loss counseling program, which sounds pretty great, too.)
Per the Centers for Disease Control, smokers who seek help in trying to quit are two to three times more likely to succeed than those who go it alone, as my dad always did. In just 24 hours after quitting, a person’s risk of heart attack starts to diminish, and in 1 year the risk of heart disease becomes half that of a smoker.
I wish my dad had made different choices while he were living, but since he didn’t, all I can do now is spread the story of his life and how we would probably have him here today if he had taken his health more seriously. Companies like CVS are helping to do that.
They’re helping people make changes for life.
This post was written as part of a CVS campaign to promote their Start to Stop smoking cessaion program and #HealthYourself initiatives. My story is my own and if sharing it helps one person quit smoking for good, I’m more than willing to tell it.
This is such an important issue!! My Dad passed away 4 years ago, and also had been a lifelong smoker. His death was sudden and tragic – and I can only think that if he had taken better care of himself, he’d still be here. He was my best friend, and even today I still get the urge to call him, and then have to remind myself… Hang in there!!!