Helen’s quit story

Helen, 68 and a former Doncaster Council employee, is urging other long-term ‘light’ smokers to follow her lead and kick the habit after ‘kidding herself’ that her habit of just a few cigarettes a day for more than 50 years was doing her no harm.

Helen says she was given a ‘huge scare’ when she was told by a nurse at a screening programme last November that she had put herself ‘at a very high risk’ of getting lung cancer.

It was the jolt she needed to consider kicking the habit, something she has now done thanks to the support of Smokefree Starts, which connects people to their local stop smoking support services across South Yorkshire.

“I always thought that because I smoked only three cigarettes a day, it wouldn’t be causing any harm to me. I’d obviously been kidding myself for many years.”

“I saw my cigarettes as my treats. It was engraved in my routine. I looked forward to them, especially the first one of the day, after breakfast.

“The nurse asked me some questions, and then she said I was a very high risk for getting lung cancer, not because of how much I smoked, but because of how long I’d smoked, as I started when I was 15.

“It was quite a huge shock. I was given the details of the Smokefree Starts service there and then and I just thought that I had to give it a go.”

Helen admits she attended the service somewhat reluctantly – and believing it wouldn’t work – as she ‘enjoyed smoking so much’.

“I went thinking it wouldn’t work because it was a 50-year habit that was entrenched in my life, and I enjoyed smoking too much. I wasn’t sure that my heart was really in it, and whether I was determined enough. I knew I was only there because I’d had the health scare.”

Smokefree Starts offers tailored support and personalised quit plans aimed at putting people at ease, whether it be via one-to-one or group sessions, with support offered face to face, over the telephone or even online, with free nicotine replacement therapy, vapes, and stop smoking medications amongst the options available.

Helen opted for one-to-one sessions with a specialist advisor, and vapes to deal with her nicotine cravings.

“My advisor was excellent and very supportive. She discussed what product would help me best, and she was non-judgemental, which I thought was really important.”

“Any smoker will tell you that you feel constantly judged and lectured to about stopping, especially at appointments about your health, so this approach was much more understanding and supportive. 

“In fact, in my first few weeks I did have the odd cigarette, but I felt able to tell her that. I wasn’t frightened to admit it and she just said not to worry about it, and to try to start over again. 

“Interestingly, when I did have a cigarette, it wasn’t as enjoyable as I thought it would be, so that was clearly a step in the right direction. It reduced my craving and want for it.”

Having now managed eight months without a cigarette, Helen is sharing her story as part of South Yorkshire Tobacco Alliance’s “It worked for me, it could work for you” campaign, which is urging smokers to turn to Smokefree Starts’ free local stop smoking support services across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield.

“It’s been about peace of mind for me really, and knowing I’ve done the right thing for my health,” Helen added.

“When you get to my age, you do start to have thoughts about your own mortality, and I want to be able to enjoy the rest of my life in the best possible health. My mum was a non-smoker, and she lived to 98. 

“I want to spend as much of the rest of my life in as good health as possible, so I am so glad I quit. 

“If you ask me if I miss smoking, I can be honest and say yes, at times I do, especially when out with friends, but that is when the vape comes in. It’s my safeguard, and it helps me manage those cravings.”

Stop smoking services are three times more effective than trying alone.

Smoking rates in South Yorkshire remain above the national average as 12.6% of adults smoke compared to 10.9% in England, totalling around 141,000 people.

Specialist stop smoking services are the most effective approach to quitting as they are three times as effective as when people try to quit on their own, but they are used by only around 5% of smokers.

South Yorkshire Tobacco Alliance aims to make smoking obsolete in South Yorkshire by 2030.