A NAILSEA mum is backing this month’s national Stoptober campaign in the hope of encouraging others to give up smoking.

Lizzie Davison was a smoker for more than half her life before she turned to the NHS six years ago for help.

The 49-year-old mother-of-two knows how difficult it is to kick the habit - she tried several times to quit during her 27 years as a smoker but said she could not do it by herself.

Lizzie, who sometimes smoked 40-a-day, eventually quit after starting to develop health problems.

She said: “I felt these were only likely to be made worse by smoking so much and I felt it had become increasingly socially unacceptable.

“Almost all of my friends had given up years before and I felt ashamed of my addiction.

“I felt held captive by it. I was always worrying about when I would be able to have my next cigarette.”

Lizzie is adamant that without the ‘fantastic help’ of staff at Nailsea’s Tower House Medical Centre, she would still be smoking today.

NHS North Somerset helped 1,600 give up smoking last year and staff hope Stoptober is encouraging more to seek professional help in quitting.

Lizzie said: “I only needed to use patches and an inhaler for less than the 28-day challenge time, so I am confident that people can stop within the month.

“My best advice would be to change your habits and break from routines that make you miss cigarettes.

“Giving up wasn’t easy, but the hardest part was actually making the decision to do it.

“Once I had quit, I felt such a sense of freedom. I didn’t have to think twice about going anywhere, doing anything.

“I no longer needed to worry how many cigarettes I had left, or when I was going to be able to smoke my next one.”

For information on giving up visit www.northsomerset.nhs.uk