When you want to quit smoking and give up forever it isn't easy. What you need is a powerful motivator and the fear of major incapacity or even death is about as powerful as it gets. In my own circumstances, I had been smoking cigarettes for around twenty years, and regularly smoking over 20 a day. I did want to quit smoking and give up forever but what I really needed was the kick in the backside to make me do it.

It came like this - and this is what enabled me to quit smoking and give up forever:

"Mr. Fisher, I'm sorry to have to tell you, but the x-ray shows you to have a tumour in your bladder."

Now those words are not ones you want to hear. The world turns upside down and after the consultation, my wife and I sat outside in the car and cried and hugged, not knowing what our future looked like anymore.

When I met with the Consultant Surgeon who explained to me what would happen next, his first question to me was:

"Do you smoke? It is known to be the biggest contributory factor in this type of cancer."

My answer was that as of today, I no longer smoked, the result of the x-ray made me quit smoking and give up forever.

Surgery to remove the tumour took place within three weeks and was successful. Apart from the inconvenience and undignified nature of the follow-up procedures, there have only been some small regrowths and no spreading. All of this is easily dealt with by minor operations or by diathermy and life has returned almost to normal. This all happened in 1985 and I'm pleased to say that I quit smoking and I'm still here.

I can't speak for anyone else of course, but if news like mine does not make you quit smoking, then the inevitable outcome will. So if you value your life and the feelings of your loved ones, please quit smoking today and give up forever.