A warning to others


Flintlock1776

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I just got the call.

My only and younger brother has inoperable lung cancer.

He has four great 4 kids, one grandkid and a loving wife. He waited until Thanksgiving was over to tell us. Not sure if that makes any sense but that is how he handled it.

I gave up cigs 25 years ago while he remained a smoking chimney. He just would not listen.

So, he is off to Chemo & Radiation. Stage 3 cancer. They just put a shunt in him so they can pump that chemo stuff into him daily. The same disease thing that killed my father.

I work in the FD and used SCBA when SCBA was not 'cool'. I gave up smoking cold turkey way back when. I was always a bug about fighting fight fires in a better way. I've fought fires for decades and thought smoking was crazy. I did as much as I could to avoid smoke yet smokers put smoke in their lungs on purpose. A horrible addiction!

If YOU smoke, stop! If someone in your family smokes, get them to stop.

We are not sure how long he has. One heck of a way to go into a holiday season. He may or may not make it throughout this one and if he does, it will be in the back of our minds if the next holiday one is his last one.

Stop smoking, stop chewing. Stop from going down the road my brother is going. His cancer affects more than just him. We will all suffer..

Stop smoking! if it applies to you!

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Very sorry to hear flint! I'm with you on people needing to stop smoking. Working in a hospital, I see so many with COPD and I have been at the bedside of patients dying from COPD or lung cancer because they smoked. COPD is one of the worst things to die from, I'll just say it now. So quit while you can. Don't put your family members through it.

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Smoking causes more than just cancer and cancer hurts so many around those who have it, really sad when people you love won't quit smoking. My wife's mother lost her battle with cancer in January of 2002, she was too young to leave us.

Hope your brother goes into remission. Prayers on the way.

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Sorry to hear that Flint. Just lost my dad to smoking related illness in March, 2011. Hard to bury your old man when you know it was avoidable. I appreciate your message and where you are coming from. Allow me to reemphasize it- STOP SMOKING NOW.My kids miss their grandpa, and I sure would have liked to call my dad and tell him the story of this year's buck.

HB

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Sorry to hear that Flinty...Hope he gets some good out of those treatments. My mother in law died of the same thing 2 weeks ago. She had inoperable lung and brain cancer. Very fast from diagnosis to death.

Even with all the warnings and health alerts some folks still smoke and continue to poison their bodies.

Prayers for your brother and his family on their way.

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Wishing your brother the best, Flintlock. It is 12 years this June that I quit. I still fear the C word. They say the effects of smoking never really go away. I am sure most of us have lost someone close to the very preventable diseases that smoking encourages. My mother developed emphysema from smoking since a teenager. She just couldn't kick the habit (even in sickness) and it eventually took her at a young age. She died of a heart attack attributed to the stress of the disease. I pray your brother beats the beast.

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Thanks all for your kind thoughts. He is going through Chemo & Radiation treatment now. It could be a while before they measure if it is having any positive outcome.

Smoking has been a worldwide addiction for centuries. Hopefully, with knowledge gained and shared, we are on the slow road to voluntary ending of smoking are aware of the hazards people face from smoking & chewing and smoking becomes more of a social negative stigma.

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My daddy was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in the beginning of 2009. He still doesn't know where it started since it had metastasized through all of his organs. He stayed positive and has the will to live and has pretty much stayed active and non affected by chemo. At the beginning of the year we thought he was the product of a miracle because there was only one spot of cancer. But it came back and they stopped all attempts at fighting the cancer and are only focusing on pain co trol. But it goes to ahow that a positive attitude goes a long way. Stay positive for him. Thouhts and prayers heading your way!

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