Doug Lindsey of Bourbon Co. began smoking when he was in college in Michigan, and it soon became a regular presence in his life, even as time passed and he and his wife moved to a farm in Kentucky. He keeps five horses on the farm as a hobby, and Lindsey smoked for years around them even though he knew it made them distressed.

“To horses, smoke and fire are dangerous,” Lindsey says. “I’m quite sure that the horses have told me several times to quit smoking.”

It took a trip the dentist to get implants due to his severe gingivitis to make Lindsey realize it was time to quit. His hygienist gave him a flyer advertising a smoking cessation course run by the Bourbon Co. Health Department and he decided to attend. “That’s what finally put me over the edge,” he says. “I wanted to keep my teeth.”

Lindsey found the experience rewarding. “There were a couple of characters as there are in any group, but I’m one of them, if you really stop to think about it,” he recalls. The information and support he received during the smoking cessation course were invaluable in helping him to finally end his decades-long habit. “It was a team effort,” he says.

After he quit, Lindsey says he was surprised to realize how many daily chores he did at the farm for years with a cigarette in his mouth. It took some adjusting, and Lindsey relies on chewing gum to help him with cravings, but he’s turned the corner and his health has improved greatly.

“I did not anticipate that I would be enjoying the many benefits of being a non-smoker at this point in time, two years later,” he says.

This video is part of KET’s Smoking & Health initiative.