Felixstowe man shares journey to quit smoking in new campaign
A father says it took a poignant remark from his nine-year-old daughter to motivate him to give up cigarettes after 25 years.Eddy Shuttleworth, 49, who lives in Felixstowe, Suffolk, started smoking when he was 18.He said he had lost count of the number of times he had tried to quit over the past 25 years - until his daughter told him she did not want him to die.He has shared his story in Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Town Football Club's joint stop smoking campaign, Never Stop Trying.
Mr Shuttleworth told BBC Radio Suffolk he initially tried to quit smoking in his 20s, but found it a challenge.He said he mainly wanted to give up for health reasons until the timely remark from his daughter."It was actually in the end my daughter, who was nine at the time, who was looking at [smoking] through school," he said."She came home to make us both, myself and my wife, give up at the same time and she said, 'Can you give up smoking? I don't want you to die, daddy'."When you have your nine-year-old daughter say that, it spurs you on even more."
Mr Shuttleworth and his wife have been non-smokers for the past seven years, which he said has made him "proud".He said the hardest part of the journey was breaking his usual habits around smoking."When you're eating, you finish a meal and the first thing you do is reach for your cigarettes," he continued."If you happen to go out and have a drink you always have a cigarette in one hand and a pint in the other hand. That's the hardest thing."The nicotine side of it, that goes fairly easily, it's the habit side that's the hardest."
The Never Stop Trying campaign saw Mr Shuttleworth share his story in a new video.He was inspired to join after hearing about it through his work within the council.The campaign helps direct people who are thinking of quitting to Feel Good Suffolk, the county's stop smoking service.Cabinet member for public health, Steve Wiles, said Mr Shuttleworth would help "inspire others to take that crucial first step".Dan Palfrey, director of foundation at Ipswich Town, added that the club was proud to "support our local community in making healthier choices".
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