By Betsy Finklea
Local author Carley Wiggins spoke at Little Rock Baptist Church on Sunday, May 31st about overcoming his addiction to cigarettes.
Wiggins said he was born on a farm in 1940. He said in those days tobacco, a very labor intensive crop, was a money crop for farmers. He said tobacco farming was done by hand. He was the only child of poor folks, and he started working in the tobacco fields when he was old enough. By 17 years old, he became a cropper and was paid about 40 cents an hour.
Some of his friends were already smoking, but he had not developed a taste for it. He would buy a pack of cigarettes because he said it looked cool to have one hanging out of your mouth.
Wiggins got married pretty young. His wife was already a smoker. He said back then everyone seemed to use tobacco of some type. He said this was long before anyone knew what this was doing to their health or about the harmful effects of tobacco. Wiggins said he was told that at one time there were over 500 tobacco farmers in Dillon County though many were just small farmers. This is now reduced to about two farmers.
Wiggins said at that time cigarette ads were all over television. Wiggins said not long after he got addicted, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He said because of this, he made a good many changes, but he did not give up cigarettes because he was not hurting anyone and there was nothing wrong with it.
In 1964, C. Everett Koop, the surgeon general, came out against smoking and said it was killing people. He said he didn’t like him.
Wiggins’ father developed emphysema at age 52 and smoked until he had no breath at all.
Wiggins said one would think that this would be a pretty good reason to stop, but he continued because he loved the cigarettes too much.
As time moved on, Wiggins still had his addiction. In 1985, he started having heart problems and had five bypasses. This was the first doctor to mention that he might not want to smoke.
Wiggins said his first wife passed away in 1999and that her smoking continued to her death.
In 2001, Wiggins got sick again with a tumor in his colon. He underwent surgery and was in the hospital several days. He got better and came home and decided this would be a good time to give up the cigarettes.
One day, he walked by the dresser and saw a partial pack of cigarettes. He said the first cigarette didn’t taste too good, but the next one did. In the spring of 2002, he met his current wife, Helen, who had never smoked and didn’t say too much about him smoking.
Wiggins said one day he noticed that Helen had developed a cough, perhaps from second hand smoke, so he never smoked inside again.
Last year, he had an episode where he couldn’t get his breath and had to go to the hospital. The doctor there asked him if he was a smoker, and he told her that he had smoked for over 50 years. She told him that at his age he would probably never quit. He had not crossed the line where he would have to be on oxygen all the time, but he was told if he didn’t stop smoking, he soon would be. As Helen was driving him home, she told him that she hoped he got the message.
As of Sunday, May 31, it has been 380 days and 9,120 hours since he quit smoking. His wheezing has gone away, and he sleeps through the night, but his COPD will never go away. He just hopes that it won’t get worse.
The third week after he stopped smoking, he was having a bad day. He said that he just couldn’t do it. He pulled into the store where he bought cigarettes. The cashier gave him the cigarettes he usually bought, and he began to hand him the money. He took it back and pushed back the cigarettes.
He went to the car, put his head on the steering wheel, and said, “Lord, help me through this day.”
Wiggins said he had never gotten serious about giving up the cigarettes because he loved them too good. If he had, the Lord would have delivered them at any time. He said every day he says a prayer, “Lord, help me through another day.” He said he has smoked his last cigarette.
Please watch his powerful and inspiring story in this video by Helen Wiggins:
PART ONE: LIVING AN ADDICTED LIFE
[youtube]PJosBunYbQM[/youtube]
PART TWO: LIVING AN ADDICTED LIFE
[youtube]jkhf7Kyy6mo[/youtube]
