Treating smokers prompts nurse to quit habit

Ms Tucker, who works as a healthcare assistant for a district nursing team, started smoking when she was 11. After smoking 20-30 cigarettes a day for 41 years, Julie finally decided it was time to quit for good.

She said: “As a nurse, I couldn’t really practice what I was preaching. I have seen people with lung cancer, throat cancer and people with part of their tongues missing.

“Having seen the devastation cigarettes can do to people’s health and well being, I decided that enough was enough and thought it was about time I gave up.”

Ms Tucker quit in June and said:  “Since I stopped smoking, a whole new world has opened up for me. I don’t have to worry about smelling like an old ashtray, my clothes don’t have that odour of tobacco on them anymore, my skin has improved, my purse always has money in it, and I feel fitter than I have ever done.”

Ms Tucker is now in with a chance of winning a holiday after entering her story in the search for inspirational quitters across the UK for the European Smoke Free Awards 2009.