Last summer, Tobacco-Free Yale developed a video series called “We Quit, So Can You!” Filmed over several months, these videos feature members of the Yale community who share their quit stories in the hopes of inspiring others to get healthy. Michael Ferguson of YPPS was featured in the final video of this series called “I Did It for Myself.”
As luck would have it, the video clip was filmed on Michael’s 2 year anniversary of quitting. Michael Ferguson has been at YPPS for almost a decade and works on Digital Media, ePublications, and Prepress.
Michael comes from a family of smokers and at a young age he remembers how tobacco was advertised in print and on TV as “sexy” and “appealing.” He started smoking at age thirteen and continued smoking for thirty-three years.
He was inspired to quit by a few things: seeing the media blitz from the American Lung Association where it showed the long term effects of smoking. Other inspirations where his mom, friends, Cardiologist Dr. James Freeman, and co-workers.
The entire YPPS family congratulates Michael on this difficult but wonderful achievement.
If you are thinking about quitting, or have tried before without success, Yale has numerous resources to help. Visit Tobacco-Free Yale website: http://tobaccofree.yale.eduWe hope this video inspires you, and if you want to share your own story please click here for more details.