Suzy E.: A Stroke at 57 After Years of Smoking, and a Life Dependent on Others

Suzy grew up in a family where everyone smoked — her parents, her grandparents, all of them. So it was no surprise when she started sneaking cigarettes at 15. Her story is one of CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign.

Quitting, and starting again

Suzy married, and she and her husband built successful businesses together, among them a seafood market in Florida and a marine fuel business. Both of them smoked.

• When she found out she was pregnant with her second son, Daniel, she quit cold turkey.
• She started again soon after he was born.
• Finding herself often short of breath, and unwilling to smoke around a baby, she quit again — a gifted cook, she turned to cooking instead, and kept busy with family, friends, reading and travel.
• Even so, her son Daniel says, she went on smoking on and off for several years.

The stroke

In 2007, at 57, Suzy had a stroke, which her doctors linked to her many years of smoking. That was when she quit for good.

The stroke left her with partial paralysis and problems with her speech and her eyes. Worst of all, it took her independence: she needed other people to help her wash, dress and get to the bathroom.

Smoking contributes to one in five strokes in the United States.

Her message

Suzy stayed upbeat. She read one best seller after another and still loved to cook and travel. She believed the campaign could make a difference, and her advice was simple: if you haven't started smoking, don't; if you have, you can quit — it's never too late.

Suzy died in 2024, at 75.

Free help to quit

Sources

Based on "Suzy E.'s Story," Tips From Former Smokers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the campaign's TV ad with Suzy; a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words.