ANN LANDERS

SHE GASPS FOR HER LIFE -- AND A SMOKE

DEAR ANN: As I watch my mother struggling for breath, dying a horrible
death from emphysema, I feel resentment and rage. Though she's in and out
of a morphine haze, my mother still manages to sneak cigarettes. She has an
oxygen tube in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Meanwhile, she is
choking to exhaustion.

I know what it takes to stop smoking. I was a three-pack-a-day smoker
myself and quit cold turkey when I became pregnant. I have not had a
cigarette since 1978 and am still tempted, so I understand addiction.

No one else can quit for you, or make it easier, but it will never be
easier than it is today. I also know that love for yourself and commitment
to others you care about is all that is needed to quit smoking. There are
no magic formulas or easy shortcuts. The only way to quit is one cigarette
at a time.

Some will write me off as just another former smoker on a soapbox, but I
hope maybe someone who needs just a little encouragement to quit will take
heart and choose health over emphysema, cancer and the other scourges of
nicotine. I don't have all the answers, but I pray that something said here
may serve to prevent some other mother from dying slowly in her daughter's
arms, choking and drenched in tears.

- -- Sad in Rhode Island

DEAR RHODE ISLAND: Nicotine addicts say they find substitutes helpful in
their struggle to quit. Gum chewing and mints help, and so do fake
cigarettes made of plastic. There are now new prescription drugs to help
smokers kick the habit.

A final suggestion: Don't buy cigarettes, and don't bum 'em off people with
whom you work or socialize.

Write to Ann Landers in care of Silicon Valley Life, the Mercury News, 750
Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95190. Enclose an -addressed, stamped
envelope.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)