Julia C.’s Story: Smoking, a Blocked Colon and a Nine-Year-Old at the Bedside

Julia C. nearly died of colon cancer at 49. She had smoked for more than 20 years, and colorectal cancer is a danger for everyone who smokes. Her story is part of CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign.

Starting young, and hooked within a year

Julia grew up in a large, close Mississippi family and left for the adventure and opportunity of New York. She tried her first cigarette out of curiosity in her early twenties; within a year she was smoking a pack a day. Getting sick never crossed her mind.

She did try. She stopped while she was pregnant and worked hard not to smoke around her son. Her family kept pressing her — one niece asked her plainly whether her child or cigarettes mattered more. Julia knew smoking was bad for her, she said, but she was addicted.

The day everything changed

Back in Mississippi, raising her young son near her mother, three sisters and three brothers, Julia began having cramps, gas, diarrhea and vomiting. Puzzled, she tried to manage on her own. Then the pain and bloating became far worse. Her sister took her for a colonoscopy — an exam of the colon with a narrow tube and a tiny camera — and it helped save her life.

• A tumor had completely blocked her intestines, which can be life-threatening. She was rushed to hospital, and she says she will never forget how sick she was.
• She had surgery right away, then months of chemotherapy.
• She needed an ostomy bag, taped over an opening in her abdomen to collect waste. She has said the colostomy was a key part of healing — it let her recover and kept her from infection or worse — and that she would go through it again, because it saved her life.

Her son was 9. Seeing his mother in a hospital bed full of tubes, he broke down completely. Her family cared for both of them.

After cigarettes

Being so ill, Julia says, opened her eyes: smoking had been hurting not only her but everyone around her. Her family backed her through the hard first days without cigarettes. Today her energy and breathing are better, and so is her voice in the church choir — stronger, she says, than it has ever been.

She hopes her story reaches people while there is still time: if it helps even one person decide cigarettes aren't worth their health, it was worth telling. Think about your family, she urges, and about your life.

Free help to quit: call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, or text QUITNOW to 333888.

Sources

Based on "Julia C.'s Story," Tips From Former Smokers® campaign, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words.