I posted this link to a story on Paul Newman in General, but just the link. Some PTrs hoped he had a peaceful passing. I had a friend die of lung cancer...trouble is, it doesn't stay just in your lungs.

The priest at the church I go to talked about a course he went to years ago, where everyone there (all clergy) aimed to become totally willing to do anything that God wanted. Greg [our priest] was ready to be a missionary in Antartica, anything hard and drudging like that. But he kept getting the thought "I should stop smoking."

He REFUSED, telling God that. He had a family, and also a family history of male heart and other conditions. He lost a brother who was 52 years of age. He had every reason to quit.

His advice now to people who don't want to quit is to pray for the willingness.

Pray for the willingness.

One day, he was driving somewhere, opened the car window and threw his cigarettes out. That was it. The willingness and readiness arrived.

So pray for it please, friends.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,429177,00.html



It’s been reported that he [Newman] quit smoking some 30 years ago.

But although stopping does help curb damage to your lungs as the years pass, the chance of getting lung cancer is never completely gone.

“The risk continues for at least 10 more years even after you’ve quit,” Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told FOXNews.com.

“Once lungs are damaged they don’t grow back,” he said. “It’s like brain tissue — once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”

“It’s a horrible way to go,” said Dr. Evan Sorett, a pulmonologist and director of critical care at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. “People have to be put on morphine, they are gasping to breathe. It’s a terrible death.”