Rico F.'s Story: Quitting Smoking After a Cancer Diagnosis

Rico F. is one of the former smokers who share their stories in CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign. What follows retells his story in our own words.

Starting young

Rico began smoking at 14. His father smoked constantly, and as a boy Rico would light his father's cigarettes — taking a few puffs of his own before handing them over. His father laughed, which only encouraged him, and before long smoking had become an addiction.

He kept smoking into adulthood. Most of his friends smoked, and cigarettes were always around. Even when his father died of liver cancer, Rico didn't take it as a warning. His doctors urged him to quit, but he couldn't; he was already hooked.

A diagnosis that changed everything

At 45, Rico started feeling sick, and he kept smoking anyway. Then a biopsy — a test in which cells from the body are examined under a microscope — showed that he had cancer. He and his family were devastated, and suddenly nothing else mattered. He quit smoking for good, wanting to be healthy and to see his children, then teenagers, grow up. He was treated and has been a cancer survivor since 2011.

A long recovery

Healing his body was only part of it. Too sick to work, and needing a long time to recover, Rico lost his job, became depressed, and the family lost their house when they couldn't keep up with the mortgage. After surgery he moved to California to be near his sister. His wife found work as a nurse, and while he was often alone, he studied and searched for jobs online — and she encouraged him to believe in his ability to start and run a business.

To fight his depression he worked on personal development and leadership, and eventually founded two companies. He became the chief executive of a home-care company and executive director running operations at a vocational school.

Helping others quit

Of everything he has achieved, Rico counts quitting — and staying quit — among the things he is proudest of. In 2013 he began working with a nonprofit in Oakland, California, and volunteering in its stop-smoking program. As a former smoker he knows how hard quitting is; addiction is a difficult fight, he says, but one that can be won. He believes it is never too late to quit and live a healthy life, and since quitting, time with his wife and children has become even more precious to him — he wanted to be part of their lives, not just a memory.

Free help to quit

• Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669); in Spanish, 1-855-DÉJELO-YA (1-855-335-3569); in Chinese, 1-800-838-8917; in Korean, 1-800-556-5564; in Vietnamese, 1-800-778-8440.
• Text QUITNOW to 333888 (message and data rates may apply), or try CDC's quitSTART app.
• Visit CDC's Quit Smoking pages or Smokefree.gov, both also in Spanish, or the Asian Smokers' Quitline.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tips From Former Smokers: "Rico F.'s Story." Rico's words are paraphrased here, and the campaign's photographs and ads are not reproduced.
• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.