10:48am Friday 8th February 2008
By Jane Lavender
A FORMER Bolton financial adviser forced into retirement by a crippling illness caused by smoking has told how the habit has destroyed his life.
Keith Orton, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), spoke out after Coronation Street actress Liz Dawn, described the way a similar condition led to her leaving the famous cobbles.
Gasping for breath and incapable of walking for more than a few yards, Dawn - who played Vera Duckworth - was forced to quit because of emphysema, a disease she blames on her years as a smoker.
In a moving documentary, the 68-year-old actress, who smoked for more than 50 years, begged youngsters to stub it out before it becomes too late.
She said: "I used to get to the dressing room, and I'd be really breathless before I did anything.
"When you're addicted to smoking, it's very hard to stop. I couldn't answer the phone without lighting up.
"Try your best to stop smoking and especially those youngsters coming up now who are just starting to smoke. I want them to really try to not get addicted to tobacco because it's a killer."
Mr Orton welcomed the actress's bravery in coming forward to raise awareness of the devastating disease.
The 61-year-old from Breightmet, who calculates he has smoked 330,000 cigarettes since he took up the habit as a teenager, was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in 1998. Just 12 months later, he was forced to retire and can only walk a few steps before he struggles for breath.
He is hooked up to oxygen for several hours every day and knows a single blast of cold air this winter could kill him.
Mr Orton, who smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day and started when he was 14, said: "Sometimes I go outside, get a gasp of cold air and I feel everything shut down. I know that this could kill me if I can't get things started again.
"It's so frustrating watching my wife, Joyce, do jobs I used to be able to manage without thinking about, but I am incapable now.
"Making a cup of coffee becomes a major task because I have to walk across the living room and into the kitchen, which leaves me completely breathless."
Since his diagnosis, the grandfather of two has gradually lost nearly all his mobility and relies on a motorised scooter when he leaves his home.
Mr Orton became a founding member of the Bolton Breathe Easy Group, which has recently changed its name to the Bolton Respiratory Support Group.
He said: "When I see teenagers smoking, I'm tempted to tell them: That was me 25 years ago'. You don't ever believe it will happen to you. If I could turn the clock back, I would never have smoked that first cigarette."
How you can quit smoking
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