Donal Wick quits tobacco for his health and two daughters
Donal Wick Jr. knew it was time to do something about his tobacco habit when he saw what it was doing to his mouth.
"My gums were eroding and there were white patches in my mouth. I also was coughing up brown phlegm," Donal said. "I got worried."
Donal chewed a can or more of tobacco a day. He also smoked about a pack of cigarettes a day. At $9 a can for chew and about $6-$7 per pack of cigarettes, Donal said he spent too much money on tobacco, "a little over $100 a week, it was pretty spendy."
Donal, 26, is part Tlingít and grew up in a Sitka family where several people smoked. Donal now has two young daughters — the oldest turns 4 years old in September and the youngest is 8 months — and he didn't want to smoke or chew around them. He said he'd go outside and his oldest girl would ask him if he was going to smoke. "I don't want it to seem normal for them," he said.
A security guard at SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, Donal contacted the SEARHC Tobacco Cessation program (1-888-966-8875) several months ago to get help. Donal has tried six times to quit tobacco and this time he feels it's working. He said he has more motivation to quit, because "I want to protect my health so I can spend time with my kids and be there for my family."
Donal said he started smoking when he was 8 years old. He smoked a full pack of cigarettes that first day, and he kept smoking even though he got really sick and threw up. He almost quit smoking a few years ago, but Donal went with friends to a bar and started again.
Sometimes Donal walked around with a chew in his lip and a cigarette in his mouth. Since chewing tobacco is more concentrated than cigarettes — a can of chew has the same nicotine content as four packs of cigarettes — he got an extra buzz from chewing. But Donal said it still wasn't enough nicotine.
Donal uses patches to wean himself off tobacco. He said the first five days were tough, with migraine headaches, sleepless nights and the sweats. But the pain was worth it to quit.
"I just decided I'm not going to die of cancer, and I'm not going to have my jaw fall off," Donal said.
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