Anti-smoking campaign praised

Kudos to Puneet Khan and the DuPage County Health Department for their efforts to educate students and the public at large about the dangers of smoking.

When I was six years old, my mother's father died from lung cancer. He was only 56 years old, and passed away just six months after his initial diagnosis. Sadly, the survival rate for lung cancer has not improved much since then.

During 2007, our family lost three members of our family to this terrible disease. My father's youngest brother died in February, approximately six months after his diagnosis. A retired police officer, he was 65 years old. Just 11 days later, his other brother, age 75, also a retired police officer, took his last breath. My grandmother, who is now 100, has buried two of her three children.

On Nov. 16, my mother, who would have turned 80 this February, took her final breath, 19 months after being diagnosed. Despite 31 radiation treatments, she had a difficult ending to her life. She fell and fractured her hip, and spent four months in a rehabilitation facility. Fractures were nothing new to her. She had suffered many over the years because of osteoporosis, another illness closely tied to smoking.

I know that there are many who would say that my loved ones "deserved" their illnesses because they were smokers or former smokers. All of them, however, began smoking in the days before we knew the ramifications of this habit. Furthermore, no one deserves to suffer this way.

A new study indicates that there is a genetic predisposition to smoking addiction and lung cancer. Even if that is true, especially if that is true, we must work diligently to educate everyone about the terrible toll that this habit takes on the individuals who smoke, the effects of second-hand smoke, and the emotional pain families go through as they see their loved ones suffer.

Suzanne G. Hlotke

Carol Stream