Great American Smokeout helps smokers quit

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Thousands used Friday to help snuff out smoking. It was part of the Great American Smokeout, a national push from the American Cancer Society.

Twenty-one percent of the U.S. adult population smokes and that's the highest in 15 years. It's a habit that comes with a hefty price.

"It's just a waste of money. It's nasty. It is. It's disgusting," Carrie Pendley, who recently quit smoking, said.

She's an expectant mother, but money wasn't the only reason she decided to quit.

"One of my friends a couple of days ago had her baby boy, and she was smoking through her pregnancy and he was all tubed up. He had tubes through him and he couldn't barely breath, and it kind of scared me. So I just decided to stop," she said.

She's hoping to snuff out any danger for her unborn child. Her story would make the American Cancer Society proud. They hope others will follow her suit, which is why they hope the Great American Smokeout will keep gathering steam.