OHIO — According to the CDC, more than 34 million Americans smoke cigarettes.
A recent study shows nearly 30% of adults with a history of heart disease smoke cigarettes or other tobacco products.
“I probably smoked my first cigarette at age 13,” said Heidi Birch, who with the exception of her pregnancies, smoked everyday for more than 35 years.
“It was just something that I had to do,” she said. “All my friends smoked. Everybody that I was around smoked,”
As Birch approached her 50th birthday, she decided it was time to make a change for herself and for her children.
“That’s a motivator, too because I do want them to be proud of me. I also don’t want them to be smokers. I think that I have accomplished that. I think that they think it’s gross.”
Two months before her quit date, which she set as her birthday, Heidi smoked her last cigarette.
“So my birthday was in March. I quit at the end of January. It just was something that one day I lit a cigarette and I was like you know what? I just don’t need this anymore.”
She said she already sees a difference.
“I started exercising and in the last few months. I can tell that I can get a much better workout in than I could previously. I definitely can breathe better,” she said.
Birch said she hopes to inspire others to take charge of their health and quit smoking.
“If you really know that you want to and we all know that we need to because we’re not dumb . . . Nobody thinks smoking is good for you but just know that you can. You just have to have that willpower and even when that willpower falls, pick it right back up,” she said.
Birch used the Smoking Cessation program at University Hospitals to guide her through her journey to quit.
The cardiologist who leads the program, Dr. Richard Josephson, said quitting smoking drastically improves your health.
“In terms of cardiovascular disease, it injures the blood vessels and leads to heart attacks, stroke, can lead to kidney disease in a somewhat similar fashion,” Josephson said. “It dramatically increases the risk of many, many types of cancer, and not smoking or stopping smoking is probably the single most modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cancer that anyone in the U.S. can do.”
