Dads, give yourself a Father’s Day gift: Quit smoking
It was a bit of fatherly wisdom passed along during one of those moments of reflection and crisis. It came on a dreary day in late March as doctors, respiratory therapists and social workers met at my father’s bedside at the University of Kansas Hospital.
George Penn Sr. was suffering from one of his more serious bouts with chronic emphysema, a condition that arose from decades of heavy cigarette smoking. Add in a stubborn case of pneumonia, dramatic weight loss and decreased lung capacity, and it was obvious that my dad was struggling just to stay alive.
When I brought my 18-year-old daughter to see him, he told her to come closer.
“I wish I had never smoked those doggone cigarettes,” he told her in a scratchy voice. “Promise me you’ll never smoke cigarettes.”
“I promise, Grandpa,” my daughter replied tearfully and dutifully.
My dad, 86, is out of the hospital now and on one of his upswings. Besides being resilient, he’s been an exceptional father and grandfather.
Some parents say they’d walk a mile for their children. My dad did. As a U.S. Postal Service carrier during the late 1950s and 1960s, my dad walked hundreds of miles to put food on his family’s table.
And because of what he’s been through lately, my family and I feel pretty lucky to have him around this Father’s Day. During another one of his more reflective moments, he explained how he got hooked on smoking.
It was right around World War II. Cigarettes were literally being given away, and he latched on to the nasty habit.
“It was cigarettes, doughnuts and coffee,” my father said. “They were available wherever you stopped during the service. We thought cigarettes made you look cool.”
By the early ’60s he was smoking up to a couple of packs of Lucky Strikes a day. He continued to be a heavy smoker until my daughter was born. And even though he quit around 1990, it was too little too late. The damage was done. Emphysema is irreversible.
These days, smoking bans are sweeping the country. Smoking has become a major health issue that every segment of society is grappling with. And for black males like my dad, the issue hits home especially hard.
According to Swope Health Services, a 2004 study revealed that African-Americans may have similar smoking rates as whites, but blacks are far more likely to die from lung cancer than whites.
Quitting smoking early in life is crucial, said Rex Archer, the director of the Kansas City Health Department.
“The sooner somebody quits, the less permanent damage that occurs,” Archer said. “The body can recover from some of the harm from tobacco.”
Archer wants fathers across Kansas City to consider giving up smoking this Father’s Day for the sake of their children.
“Maybe a dad says I want to quit smoking because I want to be able to enjoy my children when they get older and they have kids,” Archer said.
During my dad’s heyday, it is estimated that 60 percent of all men smoked. Today that number has dropped dramatically. With more smoking bans taking effect, the number of smokers is destined to go down further.
From where I sit, which has been in a hospital room next to my dad, smoking bans can help prevent even more people from having to go through what my father is going through now.
To reach Steve Penn, call 816-234-4417 or send e-mail to spenn@kcstar.com.
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