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Bev's Big Tobacco Story  Bev's Big Tobacco Story My mom smoked for 47 years before Big Tobacco took her life with lung cancer. My mom started smoking in 1958 at age 13 when smoking was glamourized by the movie stars and magazine advertisements. She continued to smoke for over 45 years until she was 58 and diagnosed with small cell lung cancer.Wife, mother of 2, and grandmother of 3 she was lively and outgoing and spry for her age. She was fiesty and would grab life by the horns if it dealt her a bad day. In August of 2004 we had a family reunion and she had mentioned that she didn't feel herself. In early October she went to the doctor complaining she was having trouble breathing. He misdiagnosed her and gave her an inhaler. She went back 2 weeks later and was told she had a pneumonia. On October 27,2004 she took a breath of the inhaler and couldn't breathe. She called 911 and they were there within minutes. Rushed to the hospital, she later found out that she had lung cancer. She was diagnosed with small cell and surgery was not an option. She died 15 months later. During her treatment she asked me if I had been to church recently and I said "No, I'm angry at God right now". She said, "Now, that's not right. You shouldn't be angry at God. He didn't make me smoke. He didn't tell me to pick up a cigarette. He didn't give me cancer. I brought this on myself because I chose to smoke." And then it dawned on me. She was right. I shouldn't be upset with God for my mom's cancer. I should be angry at Big Tobacco. I did a lot of research on Big Tobacco and was stunned by some of the facts that I found. How they pay for placement ads in movies like Superman III. $42,000 for Superman to fly over a Marlboro billboard and for Lois Lane to light up a cigarette. Give me a break. Kids watch these movies. Has nothing changed in 50 years? Something needs to be done to stop these guys in their tracks. |
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