--- colin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On a more seroious note, i understand the pain > casued to people who have > to watch people they love be very ill and or die. > Like I said, john's sister has lung cancer and > emphysema. She has never > smoked. Who do we blame? there has to be someone or > something at fault. > Her 28 yr old son, is in remission for the 2nd time > from stomach cancer. > doesn't smoke. but something or someone must be to > blame. >
Smoking isn't the only cause of lung cancer and emphysema; but it is certainly *a* cause. There can be other factors. There seems to be evidence that some types of cancers may arise from a virus. Still others are linked to environment and pollution, particularly PCBs. Then again, there are possible genetic factors. There are still too many unknowns about cancer, but most people who get lung cancer are smokers. My mother had breast cancer. I don't know if there's a link between smoking and breast cancer, but her cancer did move into her lungs and her bones. This is not a pretty way to die and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's very horrible to see a loved one growing weaker and in pain and not being able to do much about it except increase the morphine. Then there's the old quality of life issue. Many people who smoke live to a very old age, but to hear them coughing and wheezing it doesn't seem they could possibly enjoy life much. My sister and her husband smoke like freakin' chimneys. I can't even stay in their house for more than an hour without getting a headache and sinus problems. I love my sister dearly but I wish to God she would quit. I stayed overnight in their house once and you hear my brother-in-law in the morning sounding like he's coughing up a lung. I can't stay in their house anymore and if I tell them why, they'll think I'm some kind of crank. (I am, but that's not the point; so are they, because they don't like their rights as smokers being infringed on either!) I used to smoke and I know it's hard to quit. I quit 18 years ago. There are times I still wish I could have just that one or two cigarettes a day that I enjoyed most of the 20-or-so that I would smoke every day. But I know I can't have just one, and I'm sure it would make me sick now anyway; it's just the thought of it and the feel of it in my hand... Like anything else, it's the decision of the individual. you can't make someone quit. First they have to want to and that's a decision they must reach on their own. ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
