Seventy-year-old Michael Keenan from Coolock in Dublin smoked for 50 years until one morning six years ago he couldn't breath in or out.
"It was unbelievable. I got the fright of me life," he said.
He was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a condition he'd never even heard of. "I've never touched a cigarette since." Giving up was tough but compared to not being able to breath it was easy, he said.
For four years he was in and out of hospital on different medications and was "knackered". Unable to walk, and with difficulties eating ("when you can't breath, you need to get the food out of your mouth") he also started getting pneumonia.
He then struck lucky with an inhaled medication, Spiriva, which made a difference, allowing him to walk again.
Since quitting smoking he's got very sensitive to the smell of smoke and those who smoke. "If I hug my grandchildren I can smell the smoke off them. I keep giving out to my granddaughter who's 22 to stop smoking."