It’s NEVER TOO LATE to stop smoking…especially if you have ever been diagnosed with cancer.
I hope this post gives you a bit more incentive to quit.
The Data:
A new study reports that even if you quit smoking after a diagnosis of cancer you will likely live much longer than those who don’t quit.
The investigators found that cancer survivors who did NOT stop smoking after their cancer diagnosis had a 76% (or greater) risk of dying (from any cause) during this 20 year study compared with those who continued smoking after their diagnosis.
76% represents a HUGE increased death risk!
The risks are even worse if you have the following cancers:
- If you have bladder cancer your risk of dying is 295% greater if you don’t stop smoking.
- If you have lung cancer your risk of dying is 236% greater if you don’t stop smoking.
- If you have colorectal cancer your risk of dying is 231% greater if you don’t stop smoking.
The Science In Simple Terms:
When you smoke after your diagnosis of cancer (or anytime for the matter), you create a huge amount of inflammation in your body thanks to all of the toxic chemicals you are inhaling from the smoke. Inhaling other people’s smoke (second hand smoke) is also not good.
This inflammation fuels the progression of many potentially deadly chronic diseases (i.e. heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, etc.) and cancer.
Smoking during radiation therapy and chemotherapy also decreases the effectiveness of those treatments. Smoking delays wound healing after surgery and increases surgical complications.
If having cancer isn’t bad enough, smoking makes cancer pain more severe.
Stop Smoking:
Unfortunately many cancer patients continue to smoke after their cancer diagnosis and far too few are get enrolled into smoking cessation programs or are offered assistance to help them quit.
Your cancer care team should be doing everything they can to get you to quit.
These are just a few of the free resources you can use to help you quit:
Quit For Life (American Cancer Society)
