About us
Support is on hand to help you quit smoking
Author Belinda Keenan
Tobacco Control Adviser, Cancer Society of New Zealand Inc
Most smokers want to quit but don't know how to seek help. Together with Housing New Zealand, the Cancer Society is encouraging people wanting to quit smoking to get the help they deserve.
Getting a quit coach and using products like nicotine patches, gum and lozenges, which can be very cheap if you get them through your quit coach or doctor, doubles your chances of success.
There are lots of different types of services available to help you quit for good. You can get support in person, over the phone, by text, from your local doctor or on the internet.
The most important thing is that you keep trying to find out what works for you.
For more help visit: www.QuitSmoking.org.nz
90% of adult smokers and 75% of youth smokers say they wish they'd never started to smoke.
A pack a day at $15 amounts to $5,500 spent over a year. The same money could help towards a deposit on your own home.
Gaye's story
- Gaye finds the short walk to her letterbox difficult.
After over 50 years of smoking, Housing New Zealand tenant Gaye finally quit smoking for good in June 2008.
Smoking, she says, has taken a lot from her, including her beloved husband of 43 years. Her message is clear: "Don't put off quitting until it's too late."
After losing her husband to a heart attack caused by smoking, Gaye's own health is deteriorating. She has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is constantly short of breath. The short walk to her letterbox is a struggle.
She looks at her children and grandchildren and prays they'll learn from her experience.
"The sad thing is, they'll find out the hard way too, when it's too late."
Gaye has tried to encourage her granddaughter to quit smoking but doesn't want to push her too much.
"Well, I think she's a bit like me, you know, we just don't want to be told to do anything. But people just don't realise what smoking is doing to their body."
Looking back on her life, Gaye can't believe how much money she has spent on smoking.
"In the end, I was smoking 50 cigarettes a day, costing $12.25 a pack - that's over $170 a week! Over a year, that's nearly $9,000! To think what I could have spent that money on!"
Through the years, Gaye tried to quit many times, but it was only as her health began to suffer that she finally contacted a local Aukati KaiPaipa quit coach for help.
"My quit coach was great. She was just lovely. She didn't push me or anything, she was just really supportive. Sometimes, you think you're the only person in the world that has had to get through the craving, but my quit coach would always reassure me and keep me focused. She was an ex-smoker herself, and I think that's why she understood what I was going through."
Gaye says she'll never go back to smoking now and hopes that other smokers might learn from her experience rather than waiting until it's too late.
Don't put it off - you can quit. Give it a go today!
