James Hammond had been wanting to quit smoking for a long time, but when he had smoking-related health issues, it “woke (him) up.” Mr. Hammond was a 2 pack-per-day smoker for many years, but after a little over a year, he was able to completely stop smoking. He started with nicotine replacement patches and lozenges … Read more

Rose knew it was time to make a change regarding her tobacco use after experiencing a series of health issues, and after being encouraged to quit by her doctors at UNC. She began reducing her use and cut back from 2 packs per day to 3 cigarettes per day!  To help reduce, she placed her cigarettes … Read more

By Jazmyne Jones Most people start smoking in high school, and Corey Peavler was no exception. Around the age of 16, Corey lit his first cigarette.  Several factors led to his introduction to smoking, including: a heavy course load in high school; easy access to free cigarettes; and tobacco company marketing highlighting successful people smoking. … Read more

Tommy Hawkins, Bus Mechanic #1, had already quit smoking for a month when he contacted the Wellness@Work Tobacco Cessation program. Like many people, he started to smoke at a young age, quit, started again, quit again, and so on. One month earlier, he was diagnosed with heart problems.  In the emergency room, the doctor gave … Read more

Lonnie Harp, Town of Chapel Hill Firefighter, made several attempts to stop using smokeless tobacco. However, he found that each time he returned to his tobacco use, citing the enjoyment of having something in his mouth as a contributing factor. – and being able to spit it out. In March he decided he wanted to … Read more

Tim Kaiser wanted to make some changes while he was still healthy. So he reached to the Tobacco Free Tar Heels Program for help with quitting and is now tobacco free. Tim reached out to Barbara Silver, with the UNC Tobacco Treatment Program. During their first meeting they agreed that using both nicotine patches and … Read more

Jody Nash and Patti Roten are sisters-in-law, and both are Administrative Associates at the UNC Cancer Hospital. They have a close relationship and decided to participate in the Tobacco Free Tar Heels program together in order to support each other’s efforts to quit smoking.

Jody’s motivation to quit smoking came from billboards on the highway promoting lung screening for current and former smokers. Her test results came back negative (cancer free!) and she decided to stop smoking to remain healthy. Jody remarked, “I see many cancer patients at my job, and many of them smoke; I don’t want that to be me.”

When Nancy DePalma found herself driving to the store over icy roads to buy cigarettes, or smoking butts she found in her ashtrays, she realized she had a problem. She was “sick and tired” of being held captive by her cigarette addiction and embarrassed when her patients and friends smelled cigarette smoke on her.

Glenn Hair started smoking when he was 12 years old and smoked up to two packs of cigarettes every day. He tried to quit smoking numerous times but always found an excuse for why it was not the right time. He told himself he would quit later, but when he received his cancer diagnosis, he realized that, “One of these days, later isn’t going to come.” 

Lauren Ryan (Chapel Hill Transit) started smoking socially in college and continued to smoke after graduation. Soon, Lauren married, and she and her husband planned to become pregnant. She quit smoking until her son was 17 months old.