Czech Republic
Kozak

Jiri Kozak's father smoking in his garden ten years before his death

Tobacco and its use affected me very seriously in my life. My father, the general practitioner and a heavy smoker, died from lung cancer in his 69 years of age. In the same year my father-in-law died from lung cancer as well. My close friend, we studied together at the faculty of medicine, died from lung cancer in his 69, and his brother, the medical doctor as well, from myocardial infarction in his 54. Both were heavy smokers. Another of my friends, the cardiologists, whom I am thankful for saving my life, died from myocardial infarction in his 58. He smoked all his life. Can anybody be silent to such victims? These were reasons, that as a chest physician I tried to be engaged in smoking restriction in my country and in helping smokers to quit.

Jiri Kozak
Czech Republic