Coleen Nolan has revealed a recent health scare left her struggling to breathe and pushed her to finally try to quit smoking.
The TV presenter is backing the NHS and Government’s call for 5.3 million people in England to kick the habit on No Smoking Day.
Opening up about her health journey in a video for the NHS, Coleen, 59, said: “At my peak of smoking I was on about 30 probably a day, maybe 35.
“I got quite ill recently and I literally couldn’t breathe. It freaked me out. I went to the doctor: ‘It’s a chest infection’. But what he started talking about was emphysema, COPD: ‘You’re on the cusp of it. You’ve damaged your lungs.’
“It really, really scared me, it was such a wake-up call. My dad died of a smoking-related illness.”
READ MORE: One in four menopausal women say they felt better due to a ‘wave of sisterhood’
Coleen, who turned 59 on Tuesday, gave up cigarettes and has not smoked for more than three months.
The Loose Women presenter had smoked for 40 years and said she was heavily influenced by friends and family without understanding the risks.
She added: “When I look back now and I look at photos of me when I was younger, when my kids were little, I wish I’d never started.
“I want to be around for as long as possible. I’ve still so much to do and so much time to spend with them.
“Tell family and friends, go to your local stop smoking services. If one thing doesn’t work, try another.
“I would say to anyone out there who’s trying to give up, please keep trying – you will do it.”
More than 400,000 hospital admissions are linked to smoking each year and it costs the NHS and social care £3 billion annually.
When the impact on productivity is taken into account, the total cost to society exceeds £17 billion per year.
Public Health Minister Andrea Leadsom said cigarettes killed 64,000 people each year in England.
She added: “No other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its users. That’s why No Smoking Day is still so important 40 years on from its launch.
“We are taking action to prevent our children from ever lighting a cigarette, and our proposed historic Tobacco and Vapes Bill will safeguard the next generation from the harms of smoking and risk of addiction.”
For free support to stop smoking, people are urged to search “smokefree”.