Nowra mother-of-three Leah Campbell can breathe easy after becoming the face of the region’s quit smoking campaign.
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The 34-year-old featured in a television and radio campaign for an Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) program that supports pregnant women from Aboriginal backgrounds and their families to quit smoking.
Ms Campbell is now celebrating her first anniversary since quitting smoking in the early stages of her last pregnancy.
‘‘The kids were my main motivation – I didn’t want to smoke around them and I didn’t want them to grow up to be smokers,’’ she said.
‘‘But I’ve really noticed how much better I feel since quitting too – my sense of smell, my sense of taste, my breathing, are all so much better.’’
Ms Campbell said her third pregnancy with baby Christopher, now four months, had gone smoothly, with less of the fatigue she’d felt in previous pregnancies. Her older children – Preston, 6, and Alleyah, 11 – have also noticed the change in their mum, and their environment.
‘‘I’m not so tired all the time and have much more motivation to do things,’’ she said. ‘‘My daughter especially loves that I’ve given up and that that cigarette smell is no longer around.
‘‘My partner Luke has given up too, and so there’s been a lot more money in our pockets too.’’
Ms Campbell said she had received a lot of positive feedback from friends, family and community members about her part in the campaign.
She had tried to quit before but failed as she didn’t have the support the program provided.