About a month into my May 15, 1999 quit I stumbled across a June 15, 1999 St. Petersburg Times story about a a 34-year-old twenty-year smoker who, within 2 months, went from looking healthy to being dead from lung cancer.

About to turn 45, had I gotten lucky? Had I dodged a bullet? His name was Bryan Lee Curtis and his story was entitled, "He wanted you to know."

It was powerfully motivating. How many other Bryans were there? Why hadn't I heard about smoke killing young smokers sooner?

I emailed the reporter and thanked her. She called and I soon found myself quoted in the following two follow-up stories. In that, collectively, these three stories helped motivate the July 15, 1999 creation and naming of WhyQuit.com, they're preserved and shared here.

Baby steps, just one challenge at a time, yes you can!

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,

John

by Sue Landry - June 22, 1999
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Florida

The lung cancer took Bryan Lee Curtis before he could know that his efforts to save others from the same fate had not been in vain.

He had wanted to tell the world how the cigarettes he smoked for 20 years were killing him. He wanted kids to see his emaciated, cancer-ridden body in the hopes it would scare them enough to keep them away from the smokes.

He died not knowing that his story would circle the world, serving as inspiration for people trying to quit and thinking about quitting.

Bryan's mother, Louise Curtis, was deluged with phone calls the day the St. Petersburg Times printed a story about Bryan along with pictures showing how the cancer took his life just two short months after finding out he was ill. Calls poured into the Times, too, from people saying they planned to send the story to friends and relatives, hoping it would convince them to quit smoking.

One woman told Louise Curtis that she had been shopping at Tyrone Square mall and heard others talking about Bryan's story in the restaurant there. A neighbor who was still smoking after open heart surgery told her Bryan's story convinced him it was time to quit.

"It really had an effect," said Louise Curtis, who spent some of the last few weeks of her son's life trying to convince television and newspaper reporters to tell about Bryan.

"He just kept saying, 'I think anybody who could see me would be willing to give up those cigarettes,' " she says.

He was 33, healthy and strong, when he found out he had an aggressive form of lung cancer. He turned 34 a month later and died a month after that, bald, emaciated and looking dozens of years older.

Someone posted Bryan's pictures and his story on a quit-smoking Web site where people trying to kick the habit share messages and encouragement. From there, it has been sent around the world. Others are sharing it on Web sites and sending it to friends and relatives.

"That young man did a really fine thing," said John Polito, a 44- year-old lawyer from South Carolina who quit smoking a month ago with the help of fellow quitters he met online. He had smoked nearly three packs a day for 28 years.

"It's a powerful tool," he said of Bryan's pictures and his story. "When you see that, you think this could be you."

Louise Curtis just wishes her son could know the impact his story is having.

"My granddaughter said everyone at work was talking about the story," Louise Curtis said. "Her boss called over 20 of her friends and told them to read the story and quit smoking."

Bryan died before the story was published. But Louise Curtis said his dream is coming true.

"If it will help anybody, I am just so glad," she said. "I just thank God that it might help somebody."

She knows how hard the battle can be. She has smoked most of her life and is struggling to quit because of Bryan, but finds it difficult at such a stressful time.

"I'm trying so hard," Louise Curtis said. "Every time I think about smoking, I push those cigarettes to the side and say, 'No. You killed my son.' "

by Sue Landry - June 22, 1999
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Florida

"Nic fits" are stifled by chatting, at any time of day, with those who can sympathize.

One morning in May, something made John Polito type "quit smoking" into his computer and hit the "search" button. Up popped a bulletin board where people trying to quit post messages to each other. Polito started reading the words of encouragement and help from people fighting to overcome their addiction.

Then he posted a note of his own.

"I want to compliment you on what you are doing in here," the South Carolina lawyer wrote. "But I'm afraid it's too late for me."

He had smoked two to three packs a day for 29 years, he wrote, and had tried to quit so many times he had lost count.

"I'm going to die a smoker," he wrote.

Messages poured back from people telling stories of their own struggles with addiction and encouraging him to try again with their support.

Polito, 44, said he was so overcome with the "compassion and understanding" that he cried. Then he put aside the cigarettes and started spending time on the computer instead.

"The first few days I quit, (my family) was really supportive, but they've never been addicted to anything in their lives. They want you to behave normally and not get so upset and frustrated," Polito said. "On this (bulletin) board, these people know everything you're feeling every single minute. They're going through the same things."

This is the modern way to kick the habit.

"I could not have done it without the Q-net," said Donna Kampen, 51, referring to the name users affectionately call the QuitNet, one of several quit-smoking sites on the Internet. "I was on probably three to five hours a day for the first month, possibly eight hours per day the first week. I received so much encouragement and help from people on the list."

About 400 messages are posted on the QuitNet bulletin board every day, said Astrid Dretler, project manager for Join Together, a Boston non-profit organization that helps support the site.

"The traffic is immense," she said. "And that's without any marketing or promotion."

Suzzanne Hennig has smoked half her life, since she was 15, and picked up her first cigarette because "it was the cool thing to do." She quit three times, but alwayswent back. This time, she is finding help online through the Quit Smoking Co.'s bulletin board.

"You just don't feel so alone," said Hennig, who lives near Ontario. "Yesterday, there were a whole bunch of people who were having a bad day. I was back on this morning and they all seemed to make it through."

Users say the computer support groups offer a lot that can't be found among family and friends or in traditional community groups.

You can post anonymously so people feel they can say things they might not say to friends. It's there when the urge hits; you don't have to wait until the meeting time. And there are lots of people facing the same problem.

"This is immediate. This is 24 hours a day," Hennig said. "If I'm having a really bad 'nic fit' and it's 2 a.m., I can get on there and I can read somebody else's post and I can put one on."

Sometimes there's even someone else up at 2 a.m. who might want to talk. Most of the quit-smoking sites have chat rooms, too, where participants who are signed on at the same time can talk to each other directly.

Debra Hall remembers one night in a chat room when everyone was exchanging song lyrics to pass the time and keep themselves thinking about something other than a cigarette.

"It's like being in a room with people talking and reminiscing," said Hall, who lives near Fort Lauderdale and had been smoking as much as two packs a day before she quit a month ago. "Even on the bad days, the worst days, going to the Internet was my savior, talking to other people."

Hall is 43 and has smoked since she was 15. Even her job as a registered nurse wasn't enough to convince her to quit. She decided she needed to stop after she started having panic attacks, which can be set off by nicotine.

Like many people trying to quit these days, Hall had some help. She used nicotine patches. Other use medications now available.

But breaking the addiction still is very difficult, and Hall says the support from others she found through her computer was a tremendous help.

"I don't think I could have made it without it," she said.