A series of emotional and hard-hitting television ads have been launched in the UK to tell the stories of real former smokers who have been affected by cancer. The ads detail the trauma of diagnosis, the harrowing treatments that they endured and the emotional and physical toll in their lives.

Maggie, a 60 year old former heavy smoker who was diagnosed with mouth cancer when she was 45, says “never in a million years did I think I would get cancer…I never thought for one moment it would be me”. In order to remove the cancer, she had to have one side of her mouth removed and now needs to wear an obturator – a prosthesis in her mouth with false teeth and a piece to replace the roof of her mouth – which allows her to eat and talk.

The ‘16’ in the campaign refers to 16 types of cancers that can be caused by smoking. It aims to raise awareness about some of the lesser-known health impacts among smokers, and inspire them to quit to reduce their risk of developing smoking-related cancers. As Maggie says in the video, although she knew about lung cancer, she had never heard of mouth cancer. She discusses understanding that people enjoy a cigarette, and she did too, but “when I look back at what I had to go through, was it worth it? No. Definitely not.”

Tony, a 55 year old who had to have much of the inside of his neck removed when he was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer talks about how he used to spend a lot of time swimming “but now I can’t because if water does get in there, it’s just straight into the lungs….it’s affected all my life. Everything I used to do, I can’t do anymore.”

For more about the campaign, visit quit16.co.uk.