Hello, my name is Steven Rodriguez. I’m a 32 years old ex smoker from New York City. I smoked for 17 years before finally being able to stop smoking cigarettes. I was a smoker that thought nothing could help me quit. I made attempts at quitting on numerous occasions with no success. I tried Nicorette gum and Wellbutrin in the past with no luck. I also tried quitting cold turkey and had no luck. Since i was 21 yrs old I’ve had several spontaneous pneumothorax occurrences that I’ve had to be hospitalized for. Even with this happening every few years, i continued smoking. In January of 2013 i suffered my most severe case and had to have an emergency surgery to save my life. At this time, after the experience of almost losing my life i made a decision to try to quit smoking one last and final time. After my one week stay in the hospital, i was released. I was grateful that i had made it through this life changing scare. The 1st 2 days after being released were easy to get through without thinking about smoking due to the pain i was still in. By day 3, the urge to smoke came on and was almost unbearable. I didn’t know what to do but i knew that if i continued to smoke that i would surely end up back in the hospital or worse. My family was very supportive and suggested i get an ecig. I went to my local convenience store and bought my first disposable ecig and have been smoke free ever since. This was only the beginning of my journey away from smoking. Since i stopped smoking conventional cigarettes, i’ve educated myself on all aspects of electronic cigarettes. I’ve also met countless others who share in my success through the supportive community of ecig users. I was a smoker who thought nothing in this world would work for me other than to be committed into a rehabilitation center similar to that of a drug addict in order to kick my addiction. I credit ecig use and the supportive community of users to my success. If this product were no longer available, i believe lives will be lost and others will not have the opportunity to save their own lives such as i did. Thank you, Steven Rodriguez(Nev NYC)