Carole Myers is one of the Track 12 members Newham is following in the run up to the 2012 Games. You can read about her experience of giving up smoking below:
6 October 2008
OK so 12 weeks have now passed. I have finished with my attendances at the smokers' clinic. I have not smoked at all since I stopped, but this has been quite difficult as I have been unable to exercise and swim since I had my sinus operation.
I would like to pass on one piece of good advice I was given by a colleague - cravings last for seconds at a time, so if one is able to continue to say no, the gaps become longer and longer.
24 July 2008
After 44 years of being a smoker, I have decided it is time to quit. My sinuses have been in a really poor state for many years and it looks as if I will have to have an operation to correct the problem.
I went to the smokers' clinic at my doctor's surgery on 16.7.08. I blew into the carbon monoxide gauge, and squinted down my nose as the lights changed from green to orange to red, and finally gave a reading of 42!
It should have read about 7. I had my last cigarette at 9 o'clock that evening and by the morning, the carbon monoxide reading had dropped to 13.
I have just completed my first week as a non-smoker, and will go back to the clinic this evening.
