Swatar man becomes European Smokefree Quitter of the Year

A father of two girls from Swatar has been named the European Smokefree Quitter of the Year.

Daniel Magrin beat the other 12 finalists from all over Europe and won 5,000 euros worth of travel vouchers, a certificate and a trophy in a ceremony held in Barcelona.

Mr Magrin started smoking when he was 15 and was soon puffing away 25 cigarettes a day. A keen football, basketball and swimming enthusiast in his early teenage years, he replaced activity with beer and cigarettes when he reached 18.

He says that there were times when he had to wake up for a cigarette or two in the middle of the night and he never went to sleep without having cigarettes available.

"I had become their slave," he said.

But wanting to give his girls a good example, he decided it was time to take action and to encourage himself, he helped launch a smoke free programme to help people wanting to quit at his place of work. He was assisted by the Health Promotion Department's Quitline.

This encouraged other colleagues to also stop helping him especially in the initial weeks.

He believes his initiative should be copied and quitters should share their experiences with smokers to encourage them to stop.

Mr Magrin quit eight months ago and has again taken up sports. He no longer coughs in the morning and his health has improved dramatically.