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Quit-smoking contest returns

Jason Bociurko decided to quit smoking in 1995. Trouble is, seven years later, he was still puffing away, knowing the habit was slowly killing him. He tried nicotine gum, he tried nicotine patches and he tried the cold turkey route several times.
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Jason Bociurko, after failed attempts to quit smoking, eventually became a non-smoker. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)
Jason Bociurko decided to quit smoking in 1995.

Trouble is, seven years later, he was still puffing away, knowing the habit was slowly killing him.

He tried nicotine gum, he tried nicotine patches and he tried the cold turkey route several times.

Nothing worked.

"I think what finally allowed me to quit smoking was I put a plan in place with specific dates," Bociurko said, who took to the streets and has ran 10 marathons since he crushed out his last butt.

Smokers today have another incentive, health reasons aside.

Once again the Driven to Quit Challenge has been rolled out by the Canadian Cancer Society across the province, the top prize for contestants who can remain smoke-free for the month of March being a 2010 Ford Escape hybrid.

"The whole point of the challenge is really to get everybody ready for the process of quitting. For January and February there are lots of resources out there, like the Smoker’s Helpline, to help people organize a plan for their quit attempt for the month of March," said Naomi McNeill, the senior co-ordinator at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Smoker’s Helpline.

Susan Trevisan, a tobacco treatment specialist at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, said most people, in the back of their minds, know smoking isn’t good for them. But it usually takes a push for them to finally decide to give up the habit.

That could be anything from a comment from a loved one, a smoking-related death in the family or a contest offering a new car as its top prize, she said.

The key to quitting is changing routines.

Bociurko said he used to smoke when he got up, on his way to work, during his coffee break and as a stress reliever in the afternoon.

Trevisan said he was only successful when he started switching things up.

"The first thing we do, like Jason mentioned, is to throw off their routine, to start to disassociate the cigarette from the activity or the pleasure they get. I have to encourage people to take it outside, which is a huge step," she said.

Something as simple as forcing yourself to stop smoking in the home can be a major breakthrough, Trevisan said, which not many people realize.

"On the road to being an ex-smoker it’s a big step in their mindset, if they start to take it outside. They start to put their own restrictions on their smoking," she said.

Northwestern Ontarians, whose smoking rates outstrip provincial averages, have taken to the idea of quitting, said the Health Unit’s anti-tobacco advocate, Simon Hoad.

He said in past years the reaction to the Driven to Quit Challenge in Northwestern Ontario has more than doubled that of the province average as a whole, with almost 900 signing up in 2009.

Entrants can sign up with a quit buddy at http://www.driventoquit.ca between now and Feb. 28. Secondary prizes include a pair of $5,000 vacation getaways and a $2,000 MasterCard gift card, reserved specifically for someone in Northwestern Ontario.

There is also an $1,000 gift card as an early-bird prize for anyone signing up between now and the end of the month.


Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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