Vaportrailz Contest- Who would you like to see stop smoking?

[darkstorm]

I will be awarding the winning submission a complete starter kit which includes an eGo system, 15ml of juice and some carts. I would like you to write about someone in your life you would like to see transition from smoking to vaping. I watched my grandfather die from smoking and continued my habit. I swore to my father on his death bed while he was dying from cancer that I would quit cigarettes, I smoked at his funeral. The only thing that has worked for me and countless others has been these devices. Who in your life would you like to send a kit to and why? Most compelling story (or stories) win.

Contest will end 4/1.

 

[Lauralie]

Not great at compelling stories but I will bump this up so it doesn't get lost

 

[mattiem]

I am not any good at compelling stories but will try.

I started on this journey to a healthier lifestyle November 13, 2011. As soon as I knew that it was going to work for me I started telling my siblings about it. They were happy for me but were afraid that they would spent the start up funds and it wouldn't work for them.

Fast forward about a year. I managed to put together the hardware I started with and passed it on to my youngest sister (the baby of the family). She lives close by so it was easy for me to show her how everything works and was able to keep her going for a couple of months by sharing my juice with her. She is no longer a smoker and is now able to purchase her own supplies.

A bit over a month ago an Angel here on ECF put together a starter kit for my older sister and sent it to her. She lives across the country from me so there was no way to actually show her how well they work. She has now been smoke free for a month and has just placed her first order for all she needs to continue on the journey.

I have 3 brother that smoke. I am working toward getting them on this life changing journey with us.
We lost our dad to lung cancer and even knowing that it could happen to us we still smoked. My oldest brother is 67-youngest sister is 55. The rest of us in between. I don't want to see any of us go through what dad did.

I am thrilled that my sisters have joined me. Now I am working on my brothers.

Thank you for the opportunity to win a kit that will change their life for the better.

 

[Hokus]

I would like to see my sister stop smoking. Last year she was diagnosed with a condition in her uterus causing her pain and greatly reducing her chances of having children. She has since had 3 surgery's and is on medication to help. They doctors also say that if she quits smoking it will help with her tissue regrowth and could up her chances of being fully recovered and better her chances of having children. I started vaping a while ago, and since then I have converted both of my parents and a lot of friends, but for what ever reason I cannot get my sister to commit. I think if I were to be able to hand her a complete kit of her own and teach her the ins and outs of using it, she just might be able to make the switch, but one can only hope.

 

[Dragonlore]

Ok, here is my story.

I have 1 brother and 2 sisters, all but my oldest sister are life long smokers. My father smoked but quit in the early 70's. I'm the baby, and was the heaviest smoker (10-15 Black and Mild cigars a day) and have smoked for 30yrs. Brother and sis have 35+ yrs. I am a cancer survivor. 3 times. Shortly after my 2nd fight, we lost our mother to Pancreatic cancer, a year later, my father in law to pancreatic cancer as well. In October of last year my cancer came back and I was lucky that through surgery, and treatments to win again. I still smoked, but it was the final wake up call, my wife and family (and doctors) urged me to quit. My wife saw the BLu commercial and got me a kit... I'm a major gadget guy, so i was hooked. A good friend (Pharaoh) sent me a good starter of a lava tube, and everything i needed to really get started. Now I'm working on my brother, sister, and 2 nephews. I Pif'ed the blu I had to my sister, she's just starting, and my nephews have bought different sets of there own, now it's just my brother to get started. He and his wife smoke heavily and have fought the change, even though their oldest son is enjoying vaping. I don't want to watch any more of my family go through what I have, and I couldn't take watching any more be taken away in such a painful way.

Sorry to be so long winded, not an easy story to begin with, let alone to summerize.
Thanks for the opportunity to share.

 

[darkstorm]

Great stories so far! I have already decided that there will be more than one winner.

 

[cocoabellaRSD]

Who do I want to see get off analogs and onto vaping :
My son's best friend and his wife. (My son's best friend is like my adopted son) I have been trying to convert them from analogs to vaping for the last yr, since I started vaping.
But they both continue to smoke. They recently have had 2 life changing events that make me want them to quit smoking more than ever. He (my son's best friend) lost his mother a few months back to oral cancer b/c of her smoking. And b/c he and his wife recently had a baby. They need to both quit analogs so they are not exposing that baby to any second hand smoke!!!! They need to quit analogs so they
can assure that new baby that both parents will be around for a long long time! My son's best friend has PTSD from spending a year in Iraq and he smokes like a chimney due to the stress of his PTSD. I want him to convert over to vaping instead of consuming all
those carcinogenic analogs.

 

[darkstorm]

Fishing for contestants.....

 

[DreamingButterfly81]

Ok here's mine. I lost my Dad to smoking related illness, I swore I'd quit. I tried frequently using various techniques, but it wasn't till I found ecigs five years later that I saw success.

My mom and my brother both still smoke. It breaks my heart! They live in another state, so while they have heard of my success, they haven't *seen* it. I've been working on them since I've quit, but without the financial ability to ship them start up gear and info its been very hard. Lo and behold! Last week I got a text from my little brother with some questions, including where to buy. I wanted so badly to just be able to say "hey, bud, don't worry about all that, its in the mail!" I'm convinced if my bro could get the setup in hand he'd make the switch. I'm also convinced that if my mom were to *see* him quit with ecigs, she'll follow his lead. So my entry is for my brother, who after a year of pushing the concept away is finally showing interest. Massive bonus for the domino effect of my mom quitting too!

Thank you for the chance!

 

[spacekitty]

Fishing for contestants.....

Don't worry, there is still plenty of time... and I'm sure a lot of people are just trying to find the time to write their story... like me!!

 

[darkstorm]

I look forward to your story. Guess I should have tightened the deadline a little.

 

[Hokus]

Monday night bump

 

[mattiem]

Bumping up for a very generous offer and interesting contest

 

[jj2]

Have a friend who has only about 25% of his heart functioning. He also has had veins in his legs replaced and if he keeps smoking more veins are going to need replaced. Most likely such surgeries aren't going to happen because he barely survived the last one and he was in better shape at the time.
He is a 30+ year recovering alcoholic and thinks he has given up so many pleasures of life and keeps smoking even though he has to do 3/4 breathing treatments a day. It becomes really obvious that he needs to when he can't walk far because of shortness of breath. He coughs a lot which puts a lot strain on his heart which is why he decided to give it a try. I provided several mods etc. to get give him an idea of what vaping was like.
He like it enough to give it a serious effort so his wife has ordered the stuff that he thought he would like and that was a mini. I discouraged but like newbies, he thought that was what he wanted.
What he has just isn't the magic bullet so it's back to using my stuff and most of mine are in the line of mods which he doesn't like the feel or the looks of.

On the bright side, in the last few weeks that this occurred, his daughter and granddaughter have pretty much made the switch because they started using the stuff that was purchased. Now it's down to not wanting to spend more money only to find out that he doesn't like it. Although his SIL says she might give it a try if he doesn't like his next one.
Yes a family of smokers.

Still I would like to see my friend succeed because his family and friends aren't ready to lose him.

 

[tiggerrts]

There is a gentleman who is restrained to a wheelchair that I met once while working on his house. I do not know how he got to that state or even if smoking helped. We spoke for a little while on my last day and I tried to explain to him the use of vaping. He stated that though he knew that he needed to stop smoking and had tried many times that he was unsuccesful. The greatest set back to trying to start vaping was the initial cost of getting batteries, chargers, juice and the lot. He can not work and is on a very tight budget. I would be so proud to be able to go back to this man and give him his start to a better life, and his wife who does not smoke would also be thankful.

Not much of a story, but it is what it is. Thanks for the chance.

 

[bulldog63h]

I would like to get my whole family off the cigarettes. About three and a half years ago my uncle was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. Apparently less than one percent of people diagnosed did not get it from smoking. Anyway, he started chemo and radiation tratments. The Dr. said it would only prolong his life for a short time. During that time we watched him waste away painfully (for him and us.) It got to the point that he could not even go to the bathroom by himself. In his last few days we had to use a bed pan as he could not even stand. He did get to be home for his last couple of weeks. My family is very close so we were all at my grandparents house almost day and night. We all would have been there the entire time had it not been for school and work. On February 6, my uncles bithday, most of the family was there. The hospus nurse came that evening and after seeing his condition, said he would not make it another 24 hours. At about 2:00 am on the 7th, the nurse said we should head upstairs. My gradndparents (his mom and dad) and his two kids were at his side. While upstairs, we looked through family photo albums and and reminised about the good old times. About 5 minutes later, the nurse came to the bottom of the stairs to let us know he was gone. I want to help ensure my family never has to await that news again. Not for that reason anyhow.

 

[Reddhott]

i dont have a heart wrenching story id want to tell but but i do have some dear friends id like to get of cigs.
i help everyone i can with kits n such to get them off and my family members as well. would like to win to help another
smoker make the switch to a better life as i have.
ty again for a great contest.

 

[priorities]

I consider myself so lucky to have found vaping. It has changed my life and my health as well. My father died of throat cancer after smoking for decades as well as his father. I so wish there was vaping available then for them both. I have met many young people who come up to me and ask about my vaping when they see me vape. They are so so interested and I am so happy to see that I always give them the info and cards of vendors and give them advice as well . There is one young man in particular who wants to quit badly. He is only 18 yrs old and he is the one I think of when you ask who would you like to see switch to vaping. I don't want to see him end up like my father and others who have died and suffered with the horrific illness that smoking causes. It warms my heart to see young people interested in vaping and gives me great joy to advice them as well. Thank you for this contest and I am so very sorry about you father and grandfather. I have a similar story as well, they both asked me to stop and I said I would and couldn't until I found vaping. Now, I feel so good that I quit and switched for myself and for them. It truly changes lives. I love how vapers want to help others, it is just so so wonderful to see. Good Luck to you all. My heart goes out to those of you who have loved ones or friends who are ill and suffering or suffered a loss dues to smoking. My sympathy to you all as well. {{{{{hugs}}}} to you all~ xoxoxo

 

[Aurora-Oblivion]

I'm not a good story teller, but I'll try to give you some thoughts on the loved ones in my life that have lost the battle, and some that I'd love to see get away from analogs but can't quite convince them just yet. Maybe with your help I could get them started and away from the terrible analogs!

We've lost a few in our family due to smoking, but the one that affected me most was my grandfathers passing. He was only 67, and smoked most of his life I believe. In the last 5-10 years he was diagnosed with a throat cancer due to smoking, and then was also diagnosed with emphysema later on too. About 5 years before his passing he had to get a tumor removed from his throat, and things got so bad he had to have one of the Laryngectomy surgeries leaving him talking out of his throat with one of those dreaded boxes.

That surgery sucked so bad for him, he hated it (For the way it made him feel, scared some of the grand-kids) and knew it would end up happening if he couldn't quit smoking, and he tried very hard too but just couldn't win. He tried cold turkey many times before this happened, over several years, but could only make it a few days or a week or so, and then the stress would make him give in. He also tried some meds, not sure which were around back them, but he was really trying hard and couldn't win no matter what. Sadly, he ended up loosing the battle a few years ago, and the grand-kids have been scared for life I'm sure, so hopefully they wont pickup the habit.

We do however have a few long time smokers in the family that his passing hurt badly as well, and it sacred them about analogs and they'd like to quit, but of course have a terrible time trying. And so I've tried to convince them to try vaping, but with all the devices out there, and all the fear talking going around by haters and the misinformed, they are worried about it and think it doesn't work. I've showed them mine, and even let them try it, and that's what got them looking around for more info, but they just say it's all scary and too much to take in.

I would get them kits to get them started, but funds are always super tight for our family, and they can never agree with me on what hardware they might like. I even tell them it may take going through a few devices, tanks, ect before they find what works for them, but I just can't get them to take that initial jump to get started. If I could afford it I would have already grabbed a few cheaper kits for them and just told them to start with those, and then get them in here, but sadly I can't afford to do that and they just seem scared to take that initial jump without a push.

It makes me so terribly sad to read all of the stories of lost loved ones here, I feel badly for you all and only wish we could all help out our loved ones before it's too late!

Thank you for the generous and thoughtful kit offering darkstorm, if only everyone could have a kit on hand to give to everyone we'd like to save, then the world would be a much healthier and happier place!

 

[darkstorm]

Loving the stories so far! Its great to be part of such a diverse community with such a commonality when it comes to smoking and vaping. I have never met a more supportive, caring and generous crew than the many of the people here at ECF.