Tag: Success Stories

Robb English, the Aquatics Supervisor in Chapel Hill’s Parks and Recreation Department, dipped almost a can of tobacco a day when he came to the Wellness at Work Tobacco Free Employee Program. As a teenager who played sports, Robb says that dipping tobacco was part of the culture, less overt...

Smoking on and off since I was thirteen, I’d tried every trick in the book to stop. Every attempt ended in failure, whether it was stopping cold turkey or gradually with the help of medication. I became, as the old joke goes, an expert on quitting. After all, I’d done...

What made you decide to quit smoking? A few things made me quit. Mostly I did it for my wife. But price and working at the hospital were contributing factors to quitting this time. What was the hardest part about quitting? Initially the hardest thing was quitting itself. The habit...

When Robert Jenkins came into UNC Health Care System’s Tobacco Free Tar Heels (TFTH) program, he had been smoking since he was 15 years old (“too long,” he said). Like many teens, it was the “cool factor” that led him to smoke. He shared that he was so sick of...

Tyron Edwards, or T.Y., as he is known, entered the Wellness @ Work Tobacco Free Employee Program soon after it begin in fall 2011. He smoked between 1–2 packs of cigarettes per day, and had been smoking since he was 16 years old. He reported being “just tired of smoking.”...

Her three pregnancies provided Sibila with motivation for being tobacco free. Yet, she found herself sliding back and smoking again after her children were born. She considered herself to be an on and off smoker, with periods of abstinence followed by periods of smoking, especially when she felt stressed or...

Although he was not pressured by his family to quit, he knew that quitting was the best thing for him and would help him to set a better example for his children and grandchildren. “Why do I need these cigarettes?” Pendergraph asked himself. “They are just a crutch.” Bob Pendergraph,...

Ebony joined the Tobacco Free Tar Heels program nearly two years ago. At that time, she had cut down on her smoking from more than a pack a day to just a few cigarettes, but she couldn’t seem to quit those last few. Her boyfriend was allergic to cigarette smoke...

Martha started smoking at age 14. Smoking cigarettes was a part of her daily routine for 36 years before she decided to give it up. “It was depressing to even think about quitting,” Martha said. “I just felt like it was going to be hard.” If you are a smoker...

According to Paul, he was going through a divorce, which actually reduced his stress level. Also, he realized that he was spending at least $5/day on cigarettes and it would be a way to save a lot of money. In addition, being newly single, he discovered that the women he...