Taken Too Soon
When smoking cigarettes first became big among people no one knew the effects of them. People did not know that tobacco would be the single greatest cause of death globally. Back in the 40’s and 50’s science and medicine was not advanced enough to show the horrible effects of tobacco on your body. When cigarettes were first created they were also much worse for you than they are now. Since people did not know that smoking causes diseases affecting the heart, liver, and lungs, they did it carefree.
Smokers are three times as likely to die before the age of 60 or 70 as non-smokers. In the United States, cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke accounts for roughly one in five people, roughly 443,000 premature deaths annually. Tobacco use commonly leads to diseases affecting the heart and lungs and will most commonly affect areas like hands or feet. Some of the first signs of health issues caused by smoking are showing up as numbness. About one half of male smokers will die of illness caused by smoking. The association of smoking with lung cancer is strongest. Among male smokers, the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer is 17.2%; among female smokers, the risk is 11.6%. This risk is significantly lower in nonsmokers: 1.3% in men and 1.4% in women.The 1950s were big years for cigarette manufacturing companies. Those were also the years that the medical community founded the link between lung cancer and smoking. At that time nearly half of the United States population smoked.
My grandma was one of those people. When she was in her teen years she smoked cigarettes and continued to do so for many, many years. By the time she decided to quit it was too late. I didn’t know my grandma was a smoker when I was a child because she had quit many years before I was born. Unfortunately when I was in 7th grade my grandma became very, very sick. Once you put a poison in your body, sometimes the damage is so bad and it is irreparable. My grandma had lung cancer caused by all the years she smoked as a young adult.
My grandma began doing chemotherapy to try and beat the cancer. Chemotherapy can help fight cancer in a lot of cases but it is still a poison being put into your body. My grandma and the chemotherapy didn’t agree very well and she slowly became very weak. Not too long after she started chemotherapy we had placed my grandma in a hospice type hospital.
She was diagnosed with lung cancer in March and the doctors gave her six months to live. She was at three different hospices before she died. Before she was placed in the final home she slowly started to forget who we were. It was so hard to see someone who I looked up to and who had always been there for me, in such pain. Family and friends came to visit my grandma very often and we also made her a poster with all of our pictures and names on it so she would be able to see that every day.
My grandma died in October of that same year. The morning she died was a sad morning but the thing that happened makes us all smile to this day. My grandma was a big animal lover and at the time of her death she had a dog named Simba and a cat named Dallas. While she was in hospice they both remained at her house and my aunt would stop by to take care of them. The morning my grandma died all of her children were with her. She was unconscious and it had been a long few days so they all were going to take a break to go shower or get some coffee and then return to my grandma. My mom was the last to leave and she went on a walk around the neighborhood. As soon as all her children left her side my grandma took her final breath. My one aunt was on her way to my grandma’s house to take care of the animals and when she arrived at the house she was shocked to see the back gate open. She was there the night before and knew she had closed and locked it. My family likes to think that when my grandma died she took one last visit home to say bye to her beloved pets.
Smokers are three times as likely to die before the age of 60 or 70 as non-smokers. In the United States, cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke accounts for roughly one in five people, roughly 443,000 premature deaths annually. Tobacco use commonly leads to diseases affecting the heart and lungs and will most commonly affect areas like hands or feet. Some of the first signs of health issues caused by smoking are showing up as numbness. About one half of male smokers will die of illness caused by smoking. The association of smoking with lung cancer is strongest. Among male smokers, the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer is 17.2%; among female smokers, the risk is 11.6%. This risk is significantly lower in nonsmokers: 1.3% in men and 1.4% in women.The 1950s were big years for cigarette manufacturing companies. Those were also the years that the medical community founded the link between lung cancer and smoking. At that time nearly half of the United States population smoked.
My grandma was one of those people. When she was in her teen years she smoked cigarettes and continued to do so for many, many years. By the time she decided to quit it was too late. I didn’t know my grandma was a smoker when I was a child because she had quit many years before I was born. Unfortunately when I was in 7th grade my grandma became very, very sick. Once you put a poison in your body, sometimes the damage is so bad and it is irreparable. My grandma had lung cancer caused by all the years she smoked as a young adult.
My grandma began doing chemotherapy to try and beat the cancer. Chemotherapy can help fight cancer in a lot of cases but it is still a poison being put into your body. My grandma and the chemotherapy didn’t agree very well and she slowly became very weak. Not too long after she started chemotherapy we had placed my grandma in a hospice type hospital.
She was diagnosed with lung cancer in March and the doctors gave her six months to live. She was at three different hospices before she died. Before she was placed in the final home she slowly started to forget who we were. It was so hard to see someone who I looked up to and who had always been there for me, in such pain. Family and friends came to visit my grandma very often and we also made her a poster with all of our pictures and names on it so she would be able to see that every day.
My grandma died in October of that same year. The morning she died was a sad morning but the thing that happened makes us all smile to this day. My grandma was a big animal lover and at the time of her death she had a dog named Simba and a cat named Dallas. While she was in hospice they both remained at her house and my aunt would stop by to take care of them. The morning my grandma died all of her children were with her. She was unconscious and it had been a long few days so they all were going to take a break to go shower or get some coffee and then return to my grandma. My mom was the last to leave and she went on a walk around the neighborhood. As soon as all her children left her side my grandma took her final breath. My one aunt was on her way to my grandma’s house to take care of the animals and when she arrived at the house she was shocked to see the back gate open. She was there the night before and knew she had closed and locked it. My family likes to think that when my grandma died she took one last visit home to say bye to her beloved pets.
My grandma was taken too soon because of the lung cancer but I know she lives in our hearts every day.