Vaping Saved My Life twice

I smoked unfiltered cigarettes heavily, starting at age 11 stealing grandma’s Pal Mal’s out of her pack when she wasn’t looking. I have always been in decent shape but by the time I was 27 I was a long haul trucker and after spending most of my days sitting there driving and chain smoking, well I would sound winded after walking up a long flight of stairs and couldn’t breathe very well and people would ask if I was ok after I did these things or try and run a block. It was bad….In May 2013 it got worse when I had an accident at work…I fell off a warehouse dock, landing on my back and arm causing nerve damage in my elbow and spine. I lost some of my fine motor control, I still randomly drop things and had to stop playing guitar. I couldn’t work and am still on light duty and living on credit cards…. Four months after the injury life was pretty bleak, I was going threw a divorce as well and the last thing on my mind was quitting smoking or anything positive for that matter. Then, in a last ditch effort to at least slow my smoking down and think about taking care of myself, my mother gave me a couple Ego E-cigarettes in August 2013 for my 30th birthday. I had tried those cheap gas station ones before and didn’t see the hype compared to the harsh smoke of an unfiltered Camel….but these were different. These E-cigarettes tasted more like tobacco should and the vapor had a throat hit to it I thought I could get used to. I immediately fell in love with vaping and on September first, 2013 I smoked my last cigarette. But it didn’t stop with just smoking, it gave me a new hobby to fill the void of loosing my music. It was tough at first learning to wrap my own heating coils and mix my own liquids…there were spills and many finger pricks and intense moments of wanting to give up. But with tools like “helping hands” and tupperware to contain spills I overcame my new injuries and it gave me something to live for and be passionate about….I now spend my spare time not at work and physical therapy making liquid for my friends and customizing their personal vaporizing equipment and showing them the good side of vaping….I send emails and make calls and help protect vapor’s rights….I love it when someone on the street walks up to me and asks about my e-cigarette and if I really know what’s in it and reply “yes, because I made it myself.” The look on their face is priceless and rewarding as I walk away knowing I might have impacted their life or given them information to pass on to a smoker they know…who knows. This is something that didn’t just get me to quit smoking, it saved me from self pity and depression and gave me a passion and I want to pay it forward and share with others all the wonderful things vaping has done for me. It’s not just about quitting smoking, it’s about making positive changes and doing better for yourself and possibly helping others. As I sit here writing this, still recovering and in the worst shape of my life, I still breathe easier because of vaping. And I know that the others I’ve got to put down cigarettes and give it a try and the joy of being free from cigarettes and everything else it’s done for me….it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve got to enjoy in life. And I just wish others could know the difference it’s made…because I had given up on quitting smoking, I had accepted my fate as a smoker….and now I know there is something there that makes it so I don’t have to live that way. And I just want everyone else that feels like I did to find the way out of smoking I had and the joy that comes with it. And I don’t know what else to say.