Smoking out tobacco ills for students

smokeout052: Great American Smokeout
South High students (l to r) Reyna Starr, Lili Delvillar and Mariana Valdovinos sat stunned by the anti-tobacco messages they heard.
A person missing half his jaw and a former billboard model gave an audience of Kern County students some pretty compelling reasons to skip tobacco. Cancer survivor Rick Bender and former 'Winston Man' Dave Goerlitz were guests at the Nov. 1 American Cancer Society "Great American Smokeout" Mock News Conference at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office (KCSOS) in Bakersfield.

Called "Teens on the Anti-Tobacco Beat," the news conference is held each year for middle and high school students by the cancer society, KCSOS and Kern County Tobacco Free Coalition. It gives health education, journalism, TV production and prevention program students a chance to use journalistic skills in an exercise that promotes anti-tobacco awareness among their peers.

As he held up a small tin of smokeless tobacco for his audience, Bender's face told the story of what it had done to him. He spoke of losing half his jaw and most of his tongue at age 26 as the result of chewing tobacco since age 12. After his last operation in 1990, Bender devoted his life to educating others about the dangers of "spit" tobacco. He has made appearances on Nickelodeon, The Today Show and Nightline and shares his story each year with ballplayers at Major League Baseball spring training camps.

"It started as a small sore on my tongue but in just a few months it grew to the size of a dime," Bender said of discovering his cancer. "A week after having a biopsy done, the doctor told me it was a very aggressive cancer that would not go into remission. That he would have to cut out part of my tongue and my lymph nodes. The sore turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. The operation lasted 12 hours. Because it had spread so much, in addition to part of my tongue and lymph nodes, they also took part of my jaw and nerves that have left me with only 12 percent use of my right arm. After the operation, when I faced my father, he was crying. He said the doctor had told him, 'I don't think Rick is going to make it.' He only gave me two years to live."

After that, Bender underwent radiation therapy and four more operations that took all that was left of the jaw on his right side. Residual effects left him with permanent gum disease that killed his teeth. But Bender is still alive, 15 years later, telling everyone who will listen about the dangers of spit tobacco.

Goerlitz presented quite a contrast to Bender. Still displaying the good looks that made him a sought after male model for Winston Cigarettes in his youth, Goerlitz told the audience, "My job when I modeled for RJ Reynolds was to get kids smoking." Goerlitz himself smoked since age 13. He believes a 1994 stroke was related to his three-and-a-half pack, a day habit. His brother died of lung cancer at age 49. Since 1988, Goerlitz has campaigned against the tobacco industry and the media for promoting tobacco products to children.

Using a mixture of humor and graphic statements, Goerlitz told his teen audience, "The state of California says only 19 percent of teens are smoking. Raise your hands if you know someone in school who smokes (all the hands in the room quickly went up). Ninety-eight percent of smokers start under the age of 14. Tobacco is the number one cause of premature death and disease. Do you know it only costs eight cents to make a pack of cigarettes, and cigarettes kill more people than AIDS and all other major diseases in the world? How about this? Did you know four of the biggest insurance companies in the world, that charge larger premiums for smokers, are owned by tobacco companies? The tobacco industry gets you coming and going. But today, you have a chance to make a difference by writing a story a fifth-grader will read. You have a better chance of reaching him than we adults do."

After hearing from Bender and Goerlitz, students interviewed the panelists for papers they were writing for health and journalism classes, school newspapers and Web sites. The Kern County Tobacco Free Coalition will award $25 cash prizes to the students who wrote the best articles about the event. Electronic journalism students videotaped the conference for use in public service announcements and in school TV news classes.

"What Dave (Goerlitz) said about us making an impact is so true," said Ridgeview High student Lindsey Foster. "If I get a new outfit, my friends give me their opinion. That opinion sticks in my head. So, they have a huge impact, more impact than my parents."

Lindsey's sister Sarah chimed in, "I don't understand why the tobacco industry doesn't realize what they are doing. They are totally killing everybody, and they won't stop."

In another part of the room, South High student Reyna Starr said she had a personal reason for using the information she gathered at the news conference. "I want to get my sister to stop smoking," Starr said. "She is hurting herself and her son, but like the saying goes, 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.'"

Goerlitz had the same conclusion but phrased it another way, "I never met a smoker who said, 'I'm glad I started.'"


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