Leslie Stone of Marthasville is adamant about what she learned on her journey to quit smoking and how early intervention saved her life.“Don’t ever have a cigarette,” she said. “I’m an addict. I am addicted to nicotine. People who are addicted to substances cannot imagine not being addicted. Many people won’t get help.”Fortunately for Stone, enrolling in an early intervention program may have given her many more healthy years of life.Stone, in her 60s, said she grew up in a time when everyone smoked. Her parents smoked and most people around her smoked.Even though Stone worked as a nurse, she continued to smoke, even when she saw firsthand the ravages that smoking has on a body.“I smoked when I was happy, sad, stressed, relaxing,” she said. “It was always there.”In 2009, Stone was desperate to quit. She saw a pulmonologist to help her kick the habit and entered an early screening program at SSM St. Joseph Health Center.It was while she attended the International-Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP), professionals discovered two small nodules on her left lung.But the news got even worse.While the nodules seemed insignificant at the time, tests revealed she had a 95 percent blockage in one of her coronary arteries.Left alone, Stone could have experienced a massive heart attack. Six stents were placed in the artery and the lung nodules were put on the back burner.Three years after her initial screening, a new CT scan showed that one of the nodules had become cancerous.Dr. Stephen D’Orazio, a thoracic surgeon, was brought on board.“Some of these nodules will not change or go away,” said D’Orazio. “We try not to put people through a lot of tests unnecessarily, but we ask patients to get a rescreening every year.”Stone had Stage 1 cancer — cancer in the lung but nowhere else.D’Orazio removed nearly 50 percent of Stone’s left lung. Since she had no other abnormal lung function, he expected her lung capacity to be nearly normal post-surgery.“Lung cancer is pretty dismal,” said D’Orazio. “If you look at the overall survival statistics for lung cancer, they are not good. One of the reasons for that is lung cancer in its early stages really doesn’t cause any symptoms. By the time a symptom occurs, you are typically Stage 3 or Stage 4 and your chance for survival is dramatically reduced.”D’Orazio said many incidents of lung cancer are found by accident when a patient is being screened for something else, possibly prior to knee surgery or after an accident.More importantly, D’Orazio said it is very uncommon for people who have never smoked to get lung cancer. The vast majority are smokers.“There is no silver bullet for quitting smoking,” said D’Orazio. “We have a lot of tricks to try to help people over the hump — nicotine gum, patches, electronic cigarettes and acupuncture. None of those things are magical. It boils down to sheer will.”Stone began her journey to quit by using the drug Chantix (varenicline). She admits she smoked longer than one week on the drug, but eventually the drug did its job, targeting nicotine receptors in the brain.According to the manufacturer, nicotine attaches to receptors in the brain releasing dopamine, which gives the smoker a feeling of pleasure. Unfortunately, that feeling dissipates quickly, causing the craving for more.Stone said she put a cigarette in her mouth one day and everything changed for her.“I pulled it out of my mouth and looked at it. It didn’t taste good,” she said. “I quit. I’m relieved I don’t have to smoke. It’s a blessing and it really wasn’t hard at all.”If there is a message that Stone wants to get out, it would be that every smoker needs to quit. Early screening is the first step and because it is a physical addiction, getting a doctor to work alongside you is paramount.“I had wonderful care,” said Stone. “I had a doctor who urged me to get in the program.”D’Orazio said he hopes early detection screening will become as popular as breast cancer screening, pointing out that lung cancer is more common than breast cancer.For four years Stone has not returned to smoking. She said she has no craving for it.She thanks her doctors for urging her to move in the right direction, seeking early lung cancer screening and giving her tools to use to kick the habit.Retired now, Stone enjoys decorating, cooking and walking her dogs. Despite the loss of part of her lung, she walks more than two miles several days a week and works out at the gym.For more information regarding the program at SSM Cancer Care visit http://www.ssmhealth.com/cancer/i-elcap-lung-cancer-screening/.Leslie Stone