A Merseyside grandmother who lost four members of her family to lung cancer has backed a hard-hitting new initiative to protect vital Stop Smoking Services from closure.
Mum-of-two Sheila Murphy, treatment herself an ex smoker, treatment issued an SOS call for people in the city to support Cancer Research UK’s ‘Don’t Quit On Us’ campaign.
It aims to mobilise local government to help protect the city from damaging funding cuts which put lives in Liverpool at risk.
The lethal addiction is the single biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK. It is linked to 14 different types of the disease including lung cancer – the leading cause of cancer deaths in the city.
But dramatic Government cuts to councils’ public health budgets could prevent Merseyside smokers from getting the support they need to give up the habit.
Smoking cessation budgets were cut in 39 per cent of local authorities in England in 2015/16, and further reductions are expected in the North West.
With Liverpool having a smoking rate above the England average – around 22 per cent of the local population smoke – the impact could be devastating and cost the NHS millions.
To help highlight the issue, Sheila joined the charity’s Cancer Awareness Roadshow when it visited Liverpool city centre.
Sheila, aged 68, is one of 12 children. She lost both her parents, who were heavy smokers, to lung cancer.
She also lost two of her younger sisters, Eleanor, and Mary, to the disease – and they too were smokers.
Sheila smoked more than 30 cigarettes a day until 10 years ago when she suffered a massive heart attack and stopped immediately.
She said: “Our family knows more than most the distressing toll of tobacco, so I find it terrifying that Stop Smoking Services are under threat.
“I think about all those wasted years I spent smoking. When I suffered the heart attack, it was a huge wake-up call for me.
“Smoking stole my parents and two of my sisters from me. Poor Eleanor suffered terribly as she also developed gangrene and suffered fits which affected her mobility and speech.
“That’s why I want to help people get the support they need to quit and spare others from the pain and heartache I have been through.
“I really hope as many people as possible will get behind this vitally important campaign, because these funding cuts really are a matter of life and death. Smoking kills.”
For more information visit: cruk.org/dontquitonus