Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB
An Arnold resident has bravely shared the touching story of how she quit smoking, in a bid to inspire others this Stoptober.
Lucy Batten had been smoking for almost 28 years but, with the help of local stop smoking support services, managed to quit four months ago and is now hoping her inspirational journey to finally kicking the habit can inspire others to do the same.
In an emotional interview, Lucy shares her quitting story and how she used the loss of her Grandma and a series of other personal tragedies to drive her on.
Lucy said, “I was 12 when I started smoking. I’ve just turned 40 in the last couple of weeks, so it’s been a long time. It’s obviously had quite a large impact on me, both health wise and I think probably mentally as well.
“Two years ago, I lost my grandma, who was basically my mum. It was a really hard time. I’ve spent the last 14 years caring for her and I think losing her and then having an eight month period where I lost another seven people within my family, I actually had a breakdown.
“I reached a point where I thought ‘enough is enough’. Now you’ve got to really got to start doing something – and doing it for me. It just felt like the right time – I wanted to make my grandma proud that I’d been able to do it.”
Lucy also says that she would not have been able to quit without the help she received from Thriving Nottingham, the stop smoking support service for city residents and those registered with a city GP Practice.
She added: “I genuinely couldn’t have done it without Katherine at Thriving (Nottingham). She’s really sat and listened to sort of all the problems I’ve had which are triggers for me where I’ve really wanted to go out and smoke again. But she’s been on the end of the phone or I’ve met with her every week. She has been an absolute rock for me.”
Local help with quitting smoking is available from:
Over 5 million adults in England still smoke and smoking causes 75,000 deaths a year, making it the biggest cause of preventable illness and death. Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health.
The good news is, if you quit smoking for 28 days, you’re five times more likely to quit for good. Going ‘cold turkey’ is still the most common way that people attempt to give up, but quit attempts are successful more often when using quit smoking support.
