I started smoking cigarettes when I was 21 years old. I smoke an entire pack of day for a total of 10 years so from the age 21-31. When I turned 31 after smoking cigarettes for 10 years I started to notice the bad effects that cigarettes were having on my health. I have ashma & alergys so my breathing is already restricted to begin with. I knew enough was enough when I came down with a bad chest cold which turned into walking namonia. I was driving on the freeway to work with this chest cold and like I’ve done for the past 10 years when driving to work I fired up a cigarette. Because of my ashma & the chest cold the 2nd I got that cigarette I immediately could not breath. I tried & tried to take a breath in & nothing was happening. I shot across 4 lanes of traffic pulled off too the side of the highway got out of my car & put my hands on top of my head hoping that would open up my airway. Not being able to breath was one of the most terrifying things that has ever happened to me. It was so bad that I almost had to call 911 while standing there with my hands on my head. Thank goodness after a few minutes I was slowly able to start getting enough air in to my lungs to keep me from falling over & going unconshis. Even though I almost died & tried everything but couldn’t quick smoking. The thing to remember is I never did want to quick smoking as I enjoy my nicotine in the morning with my cup of coffee but what I didn’t like was the over 5 thousand carsenagens that cigarettes have in them including arsnick & other crap. Right around this time is when E-cigs started to come out. What I loved about the idea of the ecig was the fact that I could still have the nicotine that I enjoy while cutting out the other 5 thousand carsinagens. Ecig juice is only made up of a few ingredients & those are nicotine which yes is addictive however you can’t get cancer or die from nicotine. The nicotine isn’t what kills smokers & gives them cancer it’s the other 5 thousand ingredients in them. Anyhow I immediately gave ecigs a try & o my goodness did my health change immediately!!!! I was able to quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey because with the ecig I was still getting the nicotine that I enjoyed. As of today I have been cigarette free for almost 5 years straight without even taking one single puff off of a real cigarette & let me tell you I feel like a million bucks & my family doctor can back that up as well! During the 10 years that I smoked a pack a day I had to carry my rescue inhailer around everywhere I went because the cigarettes would make my chest & lungs wheeze & make me short of breath. Get this the 2nd I put down cigarettes & picked up my ecig I haven’t even had to take one puff off of my rescue inhailer in fact I don’t even have one anymore!!!! Plus not to mention even though I’m not in shape & haven’t done anything different as far as working out or eating better I haven’t weezed once! My family doctor can’t believe that it’s my lungs that he listens to when I come in for a check up. He said that when I was smoking cigarettes my lungs sounded like a 60 year old man while I was in my 30s however now that it’s been almost 5 years without a smoke & im 35 years of age my dr says that my lungs sound like a 35 yr old mans lungs should sound! Keep in mind I smoke my ecig all day everyday & I have for almost 5 years now & my health is doing this good! Ecigs literally saved my life & I really mean that. It’s so nice to be able to enjoy my nicotine while not killing myself. My grandfather has smoked cigarettes for over 60 years now & he was just diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer! If ecigs would have came out 60 years ago I can gaurentee you that my grandpa would be cancer free today! Watching my grandpa die from those dam things & seeing how well my health is from getting off of them & turning to the ecig makes me realize how lucky I am to live in a time where we could invent a device like the ecig that was able to save my life before it was to late. If it wasn’t for my ecig I would still be smoking cigarettes today & who knows I may have had cancer already I may have died from lack of air all I know is my ecig has saved my life & if the government comes in & takes it away from me then they might as well take me out back & put me down because I will have no other choice but to go back to those nasty things & I promise you they will kill me like they almost did!! I understand that ecigs haven’t been around long enough to gather enough long term data however it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to compare the 2 & see how much better ecigs are for you over traditional cigarettes & we have enough short term data to prove that including my living breathing self. I guess I just can’t rap my head around the fact that millions upon millions of people like myself have had their very own lives saved by these ecig devices & the government or whoever wants to come in and take that away from us while keeping the one thing around that is proven to kill. I hope and pray that my story can & will be heard because I am living proof that ecigs really do save lives!!!!