Now in some health news, according to the National Institutes of Health, Kentucky has the highest proportion of smoking related cancer deaths in the country.

Today, cancer survivors and advocates from that organization came to Frankfort for Cancer Action Day to ask the legislature to increase funding for Kentucky's tobacco prevention and cessation program by $10 million.

On February the 14th of this year.

That will be a 44 year cancer survivor.

And at the time I was diagnosed, I was given a 50% chance of surviving five years.

So when Relay for Life came to my community, I became involved in advocacy as my passion.

So what I see as cancer came to be.

I joined and been an advocate ever since we were here to meet with our senators and our representatives to talk to them about increasing the funding to $10 million for the smoking cessation programs in Kentucky.

It will help the Quit Now Kentucky line.

It will help kids.

It's really aimed at kids to get them not to start smoking and also to help adults that are smoking.

The impact of cancer in my life goes way back when I was a seventh grader and my mother died from breast cancer in 2000.

My wife had breast cancer.

She's a survivor, but unfortunately and 2002, my sister died from breast cancer.

Then in 2003, I had lung cancer.

And in just recently, 2023, our youngest daughter has breast cancer.

So I'm tired of this stuff and it's affected us dramatically in our lives.

I have an eighth grade grandson, and I'm hearing statistics on 30% of the kids in middle school and high school are now vaping.

They think it's fun.

It's not fun.

It's cancer addiction.

It affects their brains.

It affects their lungs.

And it's going to kill kids when they grow up as they grow older.

I don't want anybody to be involved with vaping, smoking or any tobacco use.

And that's why we're here to get money to help people fight using tobacco.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says right now the state invest $2.9 million in tobacco prevention.

The CDC says it should be 56.4 million.