[1]A 37-year old man in my neighborhood who I barely know except to say hi when we pass each other with our dogs, blurted out that he has stage 2 bladder cancer. It was right after I was making small talk about the weather. The bluntness of his confession stunned me, especially as we’re practically strangers and I hardly knew what to say, except, “I’m so, so sorry.” He admitted that he had smoked for 22 years, which is the number one risk factor for his kind of cancer. After getting the diagnosis, he quit immediately.
Girl Smoking by Richard Diebenkorn