An open letter to all

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drunkenmonk

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May 5, 2009
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First a little bit of background.
6 years ago my father passed away from cancer at the age of 55. I loved my father dearly, and it ripped my heart out. One year later I was horrified to learn that my mother was also diagnosed with the same horrible disease. After a long and painful fight, a partial lobectomy, radiation and chemo, she beat the cancer. She is a tough, stubborn, little Irish lady which I attribute to her success along with a compassionate and competent medical staff. For five years my mother has been cancer free, but one thing has always worried me: No matter what we tried, we could not stop smoking. I have been smoking for roughly 20 years and she roughly 40 years. We have tried everything under the sun: patches, gum, lozenges, hypno-therapy, chantix, etc.. I'm sure everyone reading this knows all about these methods and their poor success rates.
Finally I happened upon this site. As I read I became more and more convinced that this was the answer. I studied posts, chose a supplier and a model, and made my purchase. We promptly received our package and gave it a try.
Success! Neither of us has picked up an analog for two weeks! I consider this a miracle. A godsend even. Then, 5 days ago, a nightmare.
I brought my mother into the emergency room because of a pain in her lower back. The doctor thought it might be kidney stones, and so ordered a CT scan. In those images were hell...her body is riddled with cancer. She has gotten progressively worse, and an hour ago, I said goodbye to my mother for the last time. She is now on a respirator, the doctors awaiting my decision to let her go. I will do it as soon as my brothers get here from out of town in the morning.
I was too late in finding this product, this forum, the wonderful, caring people who populate these pages. But you can save somebodies life. It's not too late to get the word to people you care about. Tell them about this forum, buy them a kit, hand out fliers...the power is in your hands.
If I were rich, I would give these out on the street corner.

Suppliers: Please keep your prices reasonable. I think you are all providing an amazing service for people.

Smokey Joe: I think it is amazing what you have accomplished here.

Thank you for reading, sorry it's so long, it was important for me to write this, a bit of therapy I suppose.

Sincerely,
Chris

P.S.
I plan to give my mothers supplies to someone who can't afford one. Maybe some of you out there have extras and know someone you care about who could use them?
 

Amy

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Mar 25, 2009
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Aw Chris, my heartfelt condolences to you and yours and thanks for sharing your story. I admire that you are able to think of others even admist so much grief of your own.

As soon as I can afford a solid start up kit, I will set up a smoker I know who can't afford it in honor of your Mother. I like your idea and think it has the potential to become a great cause...an organization if you will, that gives e-cigs to smokers that can't afford them in honor of those who've been lost. Who knows, maybe someday you and others could be handing e-cigs out on the street corners?
 

TommyGunBC

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I feel for you Chris , great idea with giving to someone who cannot afford to otherwise , I'am going to be putting together a kit for a co-worker on the cheap to help him out . I have tried to get most of my smoking friends to convert but so far I haven't had any solid adopters :( but at least I'm trying , I've been off the analogs since January :) with no relapses had 2 analogs since and will never go back !!
 

JustJulie

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I just wanted to add my thoughts and prayers as well.

I think it's a wonderful idea to purchase a set for a smoker who is low on funds. I did that for my sister, and we've had mixed success. She *says* she's cut down on analog usage, but I'm not so sure about that. In any event, my sister seems to have little desire to completely quit analogs, and I realize I simply need to accept that . . . you know . . . the old "you can lead a horse to water" kind of thing.

But even if she's only cut down by a couple of analogs a day, I remind myself that that's a victory of sorts. And who knows, eventually she may decide to give up the analogs altogether. :)
 

fiddler

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Sorry for your loss, Chris. I too discovered PV's too late, but my bladder cancer seems to be responding well to immunotherapy so I'm hopeful.

I have a cousin who insists on trying the patch again. If it fails, which it probably will, I have a starter kit ready for him. I've also been talking it up at work and have one convert with a second ready to start.
 
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