Sue’s Fight: Protecting Future Generations from Smoking
Mum of three Sue Mountain, 60, from South Shields, started smoking aged 11. She underwent laser treatment aged 48 after a biopsy revealed she had laryngeal cancer in 2012. The cancer then returned in 2015 and then again in 2017 but she is now cancer free.
She has been campaigning for many years for action and is supporting the Tobacco and Vapes Act which will raise the age of sale by a year every year from January 2027 and now has Royal Assent.
“As someone who’s had smoking-related cancer three times and started smoking as a child, I know that something like raising the age of sale will help more children escape the misery of smoking.
“Smoking was the thing to do back then in the 70s. When I joined senior school, you were the odd one out if you didn’t smoke. At the age of 11, you never think you’re going to end up addicted, or how smoking is going to damage your life.
“I never really thought too much about the risks and I lost count of how many times I tried to quit. It’s not that you love smoking – it’s that you need that cigarette. You tell yourself you can’t cope without it.
“It’s not even like I didn’t see loved ones suffer. My dad got chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – which means he couldn’t walk far on his own and needed a breathing apparatus – so I knew I needed to stop but I just couldn’t. To see such a strong man deteriorate like that was horrendous.
“When I was diagnosed with early-stage laryngeal cancer, I was devastated. But once I got the all clear I started a few months later due to stress. I just needed something to help me get through a tough time.
“I was devastated, but still couldn’t stop. I always felt guilty and there was always this fear of failure because I’d tried to quit before.
“Telling your children you have smoking because of cancer was the worst thing. The one thing that still gets me upset is what my kids had to go through.
“On my last diagnosis in 2017, I managed to quit just before my radiotherapy started. I had five days of treatment for four weeks and it was tough. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink, I had a tube down my throat for three months. I was so weak all I could do was lie on the sofa. I now talk a different way. My speech has changed – my vocal cords are all scarred now. This has become life changing.
“I’m still cancer-free and I am one of the lucky ones, but I have to have regular check-ups. When I look back at what I have spent on cigarettes, it must have been £50,000 at least. It could have bought me half a house instead of cancer.
“I know the heartbreak that smoking can cause, but also why it is so important to spare more young people the burden of tobacco addiction. Let’s help to stop them ever starting to smoke
“ I don’t want my grandchildren to go through what I went through and that view is shared by many people who have smoked, especially in places like the North East, when a lot of families have experienced a tragedy from smoking.
“Tobacco companies denied the link between smoking and cancer for decades – long after doctors had proved it. They made cigarettes more addictive, depriving families of their loved ones, and causing cancers, COPD, heart attacks and strokes which had to be picked up by the NHS. This was all so their shareholders and executives could make more profit.
“As a former smoker, it’s not that you love smoking but you need it because it’s an addiction. Phasing out sales of lethal tobacco will stop more children becoming the next generation of people sitting in a hospital terrified, and having to tell their family they have cancer.
“This is all about a better life for our children and grandchildren – free of waking up needing a cigarette, free of the costs and free of the health risks.
It is not about taking away choice. It’s about stopping addiction before it starts and saving lives.”