By Victoria Brenan

Last updated at 12:00, Tuesday, 02 October 2012

A smoker who was on 100 a day has quit ‘for good’ in just 12 weeks.

Ann Ferguson

Sixty-five-year-old Ann Ferguson, from Whitehaven, gave up after cigarettes hit £6 a pack and is confident there is no going back.

“I hate the smell of smoke now,” she said. “I’m not going to smoke again.”

The grandmother, from Mirehouse, kicked the habit in June because of the cost and the fact that she was going in to hospital.

She joked that her local shop has noticed “a big difference” in cigarette sales since she gave up.

“Some of my family still don’t believe it,” she said. “I knew I needed to quit and I tried a few times on my own but couldn’t manage it.

“I went into hospital because of my asthma and cut down the number of cigarettes I smoked each day but as soon as I got out the number started to go up again. My family kept telling me to give it up but I wasn’t ready.”

Mrs Ferguson is confident she has beaten the killer habit after she enlisted the help of the Stop Smoking Service run by NHS Cumbria.

“ I haven’t had one since,” she added. “I found it much easier to quit with the support they gave me. I can’t stand the smell of cigarettes now, but I never noticed it before. I can still smell it on my handbags from when I used to smoke.”

She said she learned that “you have to want to give up” to be successful.

Mrs Ferguson, a lifelong smoker, even managed the feat while her family kept on smoking in her house.

“My daughter and her husband lived with me at the time and they both smoke,” she said.

“My granddaughter, who lives with me, has cut down and only smokes when she is out. She thinks she is at the stage of giving up.”

She said she was helped by the fact that her flat is above a chemist shop and the pharmacist helped out with patches, a nicotine inhalator and nicotine mints.

“I would advise anybody who hasn’t managed before to try again and I would definitely recommend the Stop Smoking Service,” she said.

“I feel a lot better since I quit, and I am spending all the money I save on my grandkids!”

First published at 11:28, Tuesday, 02 October 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk