Page 48 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

2018 Story of the driver winning a special award of the "Quit & Win" stop smoking campaign Awards Participants and witnesses Small story for smoking cessation Taiwan Taxi Successful Smoking Cessation Special Award NT$30,000 Participants: Mr. Yang, aged 55, started smoking at the age of 15 and has been smoking for 40 years, and smoked 20 cigarettes per day with a maximum of 20 cigarettes. Witness: Ms. Lin, at the age of 73, is a former smoker who had quit smoking for more than 23 years. Relation: Mother and son From Taoyuan City Mr. Yang, a night shift driver at the age of 55. He started smoking at the age of 15 and smoked for 40 years, and smoked 1 pack of cigarettes per day. Last year, his health check up showed high blood pressure, diabetes, and fatty liver disease. His mother, also his witness for the competition, had also smoked for 15 years when she was young, and suffered from the same chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as Sun Yueh (the spokesperson of Johon Tung Foundation) even though she had quit smoking for 20 years, and she would often suffer shortness of breath. Thus, his mother often tried to persuade him to quit smoking, in the hope that he will quit smoking first and influence his brother and sister on smoking cessation. The taxi companies had participated in the Quit & Win competition in 2018, which encouraged all taxi drivers to quit smoking. Therefore, Mr. Yang decided to join the smoking cessation class organized by the taxi company on April 2, 2019, and began his plan on smoking cessation. Mr. Yang decided to quit smoking first in the hopes of influencing his girlfriend to also stop smoking. Mr. Yang felt some discomfort in the first week of smoking cessation, he missed the feeling of having something in his mouth, so he always chewed gum to divert his smoke craving. He also started brisk walking at the park in the morning before driving. After two weeks, the feeling of discomfort greatly lessened, and he felt refreshed after he had quit smoking. What is most important is that his success in smoke cessation brings him the confidence to persuade his family and friends to also stop smoking. Taiwan Taxi Successful Smoking Cessation Special Award NT$30,000 Participants: Mr. Cheng, aged 50, started smoking at the age of 17 and has been smoking for 33 years, and smoked 20 cigarettes per day with a maximum of 30 cigarettes. Witness: Ms. Hung, a non-smoker who is at the age of 42. Relation: husband and wife From Taipei City Mr. Cheng has been a night shift driver for 8 years. He started smoking at the age of 17, has been smoking for 33 years, and smoked at least 1 pack of cigarettes per day. He has two sons, currently in 6th grade and 3rd grade respectively of elementary school. Since Mr. Cheng often smokes at home, his sons said to their mother when they were in kindergarten: "I will never smoke when I grow up, because smoking stinks." Mr. Cheng plans to quit smoking as Li Yueh-Chung, his supervisor at the taxi company, has repeatedly reminded the three team captains (including Mr. Cheng) to call all taxi drivers in their team, which is more than 70 drivers, to advocate on the 2018 Quit & Win Competition and encourage them to register for the smoking cessation. Since Mr. Cheng is one of the three team captains, he decided to also quit smoking. He stopped smoking after the last pack of cigarettes on April 20, 2019, and his two sons encouraged him every day by saying: "Dad you have quit smoking for a day, two days, three days...", while his wife motivated him on the contrary by saying: "You will start smoking tomorrow...". Mr. Cheng suffered from severe insomnia in the first week of smoking cessation. He missed the feeling of having something in his mouth, so he ate some snacks, drank more coffee than usual, and thought about his encouraging children and wife to get through the first week. After the second week, he felt much better, and his condition was continuously improving. "His mental health improved after he quit smoking, and he does not cough anymore," said Mrs. Cheng, who was Mr. Cheng's witness. 46 ◎ Quit&Win