The ACS CAN family was saddened to learn on Monday about the passing of Terrie Hall, an avid cancer advocate and the face of the CDC's Tips from Former Smokers campaign. Terrie died from the effects of the cancer she faced as a result of the cigarette smoking she started in high school. Terrie lost her voice box over the course of her multiple treatments, but that didn't stop her from dedicating the latter part of her life to telling anyone who would listen about the dangers of smoking. She courageously showed the world her disfigurement through the TV ads she filmed for the Tips campaign in an effort to save people from going through what she had endured. Over the past two years, more than 100 million Americans saw her ads on TV, the web, in magazines, on billboards and at bus stops and many of them decided to try to quit smoking. According to the Director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health Tim McAfee, MD, MPH, Strangers came up to her in drugstores and hugged her to thank her for inspiring them to quit. By her willingness to show and tell people what cigarette smoking had done to her, Terrie saved thousands of American lives. In addition to being a leading voice for the CDC's Tips campaign, Terrie was a Relay For Life team captain in her hometown in North Carolina for nearly a decade. She also had the opportunity to attend Celebration on the Hill in 2007 as a representative of her legislative district and a volunteer for ACS CAN. I will forever admire her dedication to the fight against cancer and her passion for advocacy. On behalf of the entire ACS CAN family, I send my condolences to Terrie's family and friends. Her life and life 's work inspire us to continue pushing for strong tobacco control laws, access to evidence-based cessation and prevention funding in every state so we can end death and suffering from tobacco use once and for all.
Today’s blog is one of a series of posts highlighting how ACS CAN is examining, prioritizing and pursuing policy interventions that ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to prevent, find, treat and survive cancer. Achieving health equity in communities nationwide is a cornerstone of our mission.