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Photo courtesy of PTHA
TRIBAL MEMBER SUSAN DILLON PARTICIPATES IN HER THIRD TOBACCO-FREE FUN-RUN SEPT. 12 with 272 other runners and walkers.
Susan Dillon woke up Sept. 12, put her running shoes on and met up with 272 others outside of the Kwawachee Coun-
seling Center for the 11th annual Tobacco-free fun run.
At 8 a.m. Saturday morning, the group took off, some running, some walking, all in support of the smoke-free lifestyles they have committed to.
For Susan Dillon, a non-smoker for close to four years, this was her third year participating in the tobacco-free run. Her first year, she barely crept across the one-mile finish line. The following year, she walked two miles.
This year, Susan Dillon alternated walking and jogging block by block for the entire three miles.
“I feel great,” she said after completing the goal she set for herself.
The 50-year-old Puyallup tribal member quit smoking after 35 years of puffing away on tobacco. She started smoking when she was 13 years old, and was smoking two packs a day for more than 20 years before she finally decided to quit.
It was around Christmas 2005 when she put out her last butt. As an employee of the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Susan Dillon experienced the loss of many patients, and her own father, to smoking-related health issues.
Her father died 13 years ago of emphysema and two of her siblings have been hospitalized for smoking-related issues.
“I said ‘I’m done’ with smoking,” she affirmed. So the avid smoker quit cold turkey. She began eating vegetables instead of lighting up, and taking walks during her work breaks instead of smoking.
Now, she walks a total of one hour per day, 30 minutes before and after work and 15 minutes during her two breaks at the clinic.
She also recently joined a local fitness center, and has started working out an additional two days a week. Soon, she said she will be switching to three.
She has lost 80 pounds since she quit smoking and began exercising, and her immune system and energy levels are way up.
“I’ve come a long way,” she affirmed. “I’m very proud, and I’m happy with my life now.”
In March of this year, however, Susan Dillon experienced a small setback in her non-smoking lifestyle. A family illness and increased stress pushed her to pick up a pack of smokes, her first in more than three years.
Over the course of a couple of days, Susan Dillon smoked close to a pack of cigarettes. Then she realized what she would be losing if she started smoking regularly again.
“I was stressed when I bought that pack,” she said. “And then I told myself, I’m not going to do this again – I knew I would lose everything I have worked for.”
So she threw away the last few cigarettes and has not looked back.
And her new, healthier way of life has impacted her loved ones as well. Three of her six children have made the choice to quit smoking, and she is setting a better example for her 15 grandchildren and newest great-grandchild who was born earlier this year.
“We’ve all smoked all of our lives,” she said. “My mom, dad, my brothers and sisters, my kids. But look at me, I quit. It’s hard, but it’s doable.”
In the past year 185 people enrolled in the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority’s (PTHA) smoking cessation program. Of those enrolled 33 percent quit for three months or more. The national standard for rating programs as successful is having a 25 percent quit rate at three months. The PTHA program exceeds the national standard by providing medications and state-of-the art behavior change counseling. Of the people who graduated from the program, 78 percent were still smoke free at the end of their first year.
For information on Puyallup Tribal Health Authority’s smoking cessation program, or on the side effects of smoking, call (253) 593-0232 extension 396.
