Social Networking Saves Lives.

*Due to identity issues I have removed ages, surnames and any other ways of identifying these people.

Ruthiee, has had enough of her mum’s habits and is putting everything she’s got into her online petition.

On 29th November at 7pm, the inspirational teenager set up a group on social networking site, Facebook to try and persuade her mum to ‘kick the habit’. After seeing a similar group on Facebook, Ruthiee was enthused to imitate the idea and get campaigning.

Mother of two, Jane, has been smoking for 8 years. She finally made the pledge to quit smoking after her daughter, Ruthiee begged and pleaded, showing her mum photos of lung cancer and its effects.

The family has been through a great deal. With her brother being kicked out of the house; Ruthiee has reason to believe that this stress is the cause of her mum’s habit, but she doesn’t see that it is a valid excuse. She said: “I want her to quit because I love her… it breaks my heart to see her sucking on those death sticks. Every time she has one I see 5 minutes of her life disappear”.

Jane suffers from a severe form of epilepsy and as smoking has been known to trigger seizures in epileptics, Ruthiee is worried for her mum’s long term health and the risks her mum is taking.

When the campaign began, Jane was still unwilling to quit smoking due to her stressful lifestyle and the fear of putting on weight. She agreed to give up under the condition that two million people joined the group, and no less! Ruthiee said: “This was a last resort… I’ve been begging for years, so when I mentioned this idea to her and she agreed to it I was over the moon”.

Kim, quit smoking 8 years ago when she fell pregnant with her first child and since then she has found life a lot easier. She is backing the campaign 100% and other family members are also getting involved.

Alongside messages supporting the cause, so far the group has reached 153,614 members. Although Ruthiee is unsure of whether they will reach the target 2 million, she has announced that her mum has seen the sheer amount of support for the cause and has decided to make the first steps to quit smoking by arranging to see a doctor. One fan of the group said: “Wow, goes to show one person at a time can change the world.”