Former athlete quit smoking after cancer diagnosis

A former athlete diagnosed with lung cancer has praised hospital staff for helping him beat a 50-year smoking addiction.

Shaun Webb, 61, was selected to represent Great Britain at jujitsu in his twenties, despite smoking 80 to 90 cigarettes a week.

After he started coughing up blood last year, the sports enthusiast was admitted to Leighton Hospital in Crewe, Cheshire, where he was diagnosed.

He had surgery to remove a lump in his lung in July 2024 and, as part of his ongoing treatment, has been able to ditch his smoking habit with the hospital's help.

Mr Webb, from Northwich, said he had been smoking since he was eight years old and never thought "in his wildest dreams" he would be able to stop.

A keen bodybuilder, cyclist and waterskier in his 20s, he was selected to represent his national jujitsu squad at 27.

"Who knows what I could have been like if I didn't smoke," he said. "I was a really big athlete back in the day and I always pushed myself."

It was not long before his smoking habit began to affect his fitness.

"My breathing was terrible and I probably had the lungs of a 90-year-old by the time I was in my 40s," he said.

When he was readmitted to hospital with a chest infection a few months after his operation, Mr Webb met a specialist from the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's Cure team, which helps patients to give up smoking.

He signed up for the programme and managed to completely ditch his habit, with the aid of patches and vapes.

"The big health benefit for me is sleep, because I couldn't sleep very well before," he said.

"After I stopped smoking, the coughing and the waking up from coughing just about stopped within two months... It was a game changer for me."

He also said he was "grateful" to still be alive to attend his daughter's wedding in August.

Jo Harding, a specialist nurse from the Cure programme, said smoking was the single largest preventable cause of death in the country.

"I'm so happy we were able to make such a difference for Shaun. Quitting is the best thing any smoker can do for their health and it's never too late to stop," she said.

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