Woman featured in stark CDC anti-smoking ads dies

[onehandle]

Source: AP

ATLANTA (AP) -- A North Carolina woman featured prominently in a graphic government ad campaign to get people to stop smoking died Monday of cancer.

Terrie Hall died at a hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., federal officials said. She was 53.

"She was a public health hero," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the campaign. "She may well have saved more lives than most doctors do."

A former smoker whose voice box was removed years ago, Hall took a leading role in the campaign that showed how smoking-related cancer ravages the body. Officials believe the "Tips from Former Smokers" campaign led as many as 100,000 Americans smokers to quit.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/woman-featured-stark-cdc-anti-124505425.html

[shenmue]

1. Rest in peace

[trotsky]

2. A brave, honorable woman.

"She may well have saved more lives than most doctors do."

I have no doubt she did. Those were powerful ads.

[Cha]

3. If only so many people realized what could happen when

you light up those cigs.

[VanillaRhapsody]

4. Oh no....I feel like I knew her...

[Aristus]

5. 53. That's my wife's age. Way, way too young.

Every time I post in GD that smoking kills, I get a barrage of replies from outraged smokers who scream at me one variation or another of "OH yeah?!? Then how come I'm not DEAD? Maybe we should just ban breathing, 'cause, you know, pollution 'n' stuff!"

I hope this opens some minds out there...

[Skittles]

8. aw you know that is their addiction talking

keep at it Aristus - the main reason I quit smoking was non-smokers made it such a hassle, lol

[Aristus]

10. I'm so glad you quit, Skittles.

You know, I just love that one pic of yourself that you have posted throughout the years. With your Air Force uniform, and even the beer. I just didn't like the cigarette. I'm happy you're not smoking anymore...

[Skittles]

14. aw thanks Aristus

yeah - wow, it embarrasses me now when I think how long I smoked.....it took me quite a few attempts to quit but each time I learned more about how the addiction worked - I remember one time smoking a cig and saying YEAH YOU WON THIS BATTLE BUT I WILL WIN THE WAR!! It's an insidious addiction but it CAN be beat. Yes INDEED!!!

[dflprincess]

23. I'm not only embarrassed by how long I smoked -

but that I was 21 when I started - old enough to know better. (Coffee & cigarettes - what I learned at college.)

After all my failed attempts to quit, I'm thankful I could tolerate Chantix. It worked like magic for me and I've been off them for 6 years as of September 2.

[progressoid]

11. Same age as my wife too.

But my wife is still smoking.

She's trying to quit but unsuccessfully so far. (fingerscrossed)

[Mosby]

17. i used the nicotrol inhalers

And quit about five years ago.

The US experts take an orthodox position with NRTs, they claim that one cannot smoke while using an NRT. In Europe and Australia though the guidelines are different, you can use the inhaler and smoke, but you have to make sure not to "overlap" the cigs with the NRT.

The first day I started I smoked 11 cigs, down from my usual 40 per day. I went through about 20 inhalers. Little by little I cut down on the number of cigs, this took several months.

Once I stopped with the cigs I slowly cut down the number of inhalers over a couple months.

Just an Fyi, most people don't really understand why NRTs work in the first place, there are 3 forms of nicotine, solid, liquid and free-base. The majority of nicotine in cigs is free-base and it's HIGHLY addictive. The nicotine in NRTs is liquid and it's about as addictive as caffeine.

Fact is that nicotine is not a dangerous drug, but tobacco is. That's why NRTs work, they allow you to replace the highly addictive nicotine in cigs with a non addictive substitute.

[progressoid]

20. Thanks for the info.

I'll suggest it.

[Warpy]

13. Addicts don't like to face the truth

until the truth turns lethal on them.

[Auntie Bush]

6. Poor woman! What a short horrible life she had.

She was only in her 40ies when she had her voice box removed. May she now RIP.

[Skittles]

7. I admired her greatly

I thought she was very brave

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. oh. my god.

I hadn't seen those ads.

Peace to you, Terrie Hall.

[Warpy]

12. RIP, brave and generous lady

You have certainly earned it.

The one where she said she wished she'd thought of recording her voice for her grandchildren was particularly heartbreaking.

I just wish it had been effective on teenagers who think being old and ugly makes life not worth living. Kids, you're dead wrong about that.

Never starting is still better than quitting.

[Doctor_J]

15. Those commercials are all very unsettling

over the top, IMO. But I guess if one life is saved...

[Betsy Ross]

16. RIP. And Thank You. n/t

[JEFF9K]

18. Compare her to Ayn Rand ...

... who promoted smoking, then got lung cancer and ordered that the news not get out.

[FailureToCommunicate]

19. Her's was a face of real courage. Rest in peace, Terrie Hall.

And thank you for helping save so many lives.

[we can do it]

21. Rest in peace, dear brave soul.

[littlewolf]

22. powerful messages.

both parents died of smoking
mom had a stroke and 2 heart attacks, my sister who still
lived at home found her.

dad had Emphysema, he had a bubbler that he breathed thru. the hose
was long enough to go from his bedroom to the living room.
any more then that he had pony bottles of O2.

he died a long slow death, fighting for each breath.

me, never took it up. a 5th grade teacher, she showed the class what tar
did to you. and I already had breathing problems (2nd hand smoke)

sis never took it up either.

parents smoked 2-3 packs a day.

commercials like these are very powerful, hope it convicts people to quit
or not start.

[roguevalley]

24. she was good to her core. For a woman to show herself like that in public is heroic