'Biggest Quitter' at Vernon Hills High for Smokeout
As students filed out of the Vernon Hills High School's studio theater Thursday morning, one stepped out of line and approached guest speaker Randy Zisook.
The youth, tall and fit, spoke to Zisook quietly.
I smoke, he said. I want to stop.
Zisook understood. He offered the teen his e-mail address. He offered help.
He offered life.
"That's the one that makes it all worthwhile," Zisook said after the encounter.
Zisook, a 47-year-old Northbrook resident, is a former smoker who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer this past April.
Although doctors haven't told him how long he has to live - "I don't have an expiration date stamped on the bottom of my foot," he told the kids at Vernon Hills High - he knows the odds are against him living more than another year or two.
Zisook spent Thursday, the same day the American Cancer Society held its annual Great American Smokeout, talking with students about the dangers of cigarettes. He encouraged them to stop smoking, or to help their friends and family members who smoke to kick the habit.
"We're doing something wrong," Zisook said, referring to the thousands of young people who - according to his statistics - start smoking every day. "We're not getting the word out."
Dressed casually in jeans, loafers and a paisley button-down shirt, Zisook spoke about how he started smoking at the age of 8 to emulate older kids. He spoke of being told cigarettes were bad for him, but of not grasping what the phrase really meant.
"I want to tell you what 'bad for you' means," Zisook told the students. "It means me. It means death."
The gatherings at Vernon Hills were Zisook's first school presentations, but it's not the first time he's spoken publicly about smoking's effects.
He's garnered some attention on the Internet with a YouTube video called "The Biggest Quitter," a 5-minute clip in which he begs viewers to bring more attention to the dangers of cigarettes.
He showed the video to each of the student groups who came to the auditorium Thursday. Many thanked him afterward. Some shook his hand.
Some, like the teen who asked for help, may take steps to change their behavior.
"I'm going to ask you to do something grown up," Zisook told a group. "I want you to stand up and be counted. Stand up because people are dying."
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