Woman exposed to secondhand smoke as a child dying of COPD..

Exposed to secondhand smoke as a child..

June 24, 2010 - Lynda Mitchell, 52, is dying from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) , but has never smokes and has always despised tobacco. Lynda: I'd get up in the morning and the first thing that would hit me when I walked down the stairs was the vile smell of smoke. I would cough and cough until I was nearly sick. Nobody realised the devastating effects of smoking 50 years ago, they just thought it was fashionable.

As I got older the information started to filter down about how smoking is bad for you and I was desperate for her to stop as a teenager. When mum [mother] realised what I had she stopped smoking indoors, but that was the 90s really. The damage was already done. I was finished.'

She added: 'I'm proof that second hand smoking can kill. Your lungs aren't fully formed until you're 25. People are killing their children with second hand smoke (passive, environmental tobacco smoke, SHS, ETS, involuntary). They know absolutely and categorically - the evidence is out there - that they're killing their children. One cigarette in your car, even with the window down, is like forcing a child to spend an evening in a nightclub full of smokers. Lynda is now backing a campaign by the British Lung Foundation to ban smoking in cars where passengers are under 18.

A few directly related news briefs..let's get the law passed already.. Senior British Doctors demand banning smoking in vehicles when children are present...

We never understood why ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) UK called for a debate on this subject - This is a NO Brainer - do you want the best for your children??

Britain - 86 percent would support ban on smoking in cars when kids are present..;
More evidence - vehicles most dangerous space for second-hand smoke inhalation..;
Scotland - government no plans to ban smoking in cars and public places used by children..;
New South Wales politician smoking comment totally inaccurate...

Some positives.. England - decline in kids secondhand smoke exposure - we can do better..; United Kingdom - halve the number of smokers by end of decade...

Lynda was officially diagnosed with COPD in 2003, but doctors believe she had been suffering from the condition since the 1980s. The disease is a chronic combination of bronchitis and emphysema caused by noxious particles or gas that trigger an inflammatory response in the lungs. As the air passages become narrower and eventually become fixed lung capacity is diminished making the simple act of breathing impossible. The disease has left Lynda with only 22 per cent function in her lungs and she relies on oxygen 24 hours a day to breathe.

Lynda also takes an astonishing course of 20 to 25 medications everyday, including painkillers and steroids, to protect the little bit of lung capacity she has left.
She cannot dress, wash, or even make a cup of tea by herself as she gets too exhausted, and relies on husband Sean, 52, and daughter Amy, 24, to help her live.
The disease is terminal. Doctors cannot give her a precise prognosis, but she will eventually die from the disease.

I am not trying to make parents give up smoking all together, I just want people to be aware of the affect it can have on other peoples lives. I am dying a very horrid, very slow death, please don't let the same happen to your children.

Lynda's stepfather Ray Evans, who joined the family when she was two, passed away in 1990 from lung cancer at the age of 60. Her mother June, now 72, is currently suffering from emphysema and was diagnosed with aggressive skin cancer two years ago.

Reference: Mother who has never smoked a cigarette has terminal lung disease because of her parents' 60-a-day habit by Daily Mail Reporter, DailyMail.co.uk, 6/23/2010.