Horrific photos on a pack of cigarettes upset a nine-year-old boy so much his dad stopped smoking.

Now that 32-year-old dad, Sheen Babu from Huddersfield, is urging the 42,800 people who smoke in Kirklees to stop and is supporting Yorkshire and Humber’s first regional quit smoking campaign, Turn the Corner, which has been developed and filmed locally.

Sheen, who began smoking in his mid-teens, said: “I had an honest and difficult conversation with my son when he became upset after seeing the cancer warnings on a packet of my cigarettes.

“It made me realise that smoking doesn’t just affect me – it impacts my whole family. I knew I had to stop for them. No-one should have to watch a loved one suffer because of tobacco, especially a child.

“My dad’s friend died of lung cancer at just 44 and I remember how traumatic it was to see his health decline. I never want my two sons to experience anything like that.

“My advice to anyone who wants to quit smoking is to surround yourself with others who are trying to do the same because it’s so much easier with support.

“Find the methods that work for you – everyone’s different. If you relapse, don’t be hard on yourself. Just try again. It often takes several attempts to quit for good.

“I really regret smoking in the first place. If I’d not smoked I think I’d have been really good at sports.’’

Former smoker Sheen Babu with Rachel Spencer-Henshall, director of public health for Kirklees

Sheen – who used to spend around £50 a month on smoking and now uses that money for his gym membership instead – quit with support from the Kirklees Wellness Service.

His plea coincides with the launch of the ‘Turn The Corner’ campaign which features mother and daughter, Wendy and Amy Robinson from Hull who have both successfully quit smoking after Wendy lost her mum to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Rachel Spencer-Henshall, director of public health for Kirklees, said: “Smoking causes huge harm across Yorkshire and the Humber, but the Turn The Corner campaign gives people the support and confidence they need to quit.”

The campaign is running across TV, radio and social media with a powerful message that every cigarette takes 20 minutes off your life.

Tony Graham, director of retail, services and operations at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “It’s well known that smoking is strongly linked to lung cancer, but it’s also a cause of at least 15 other types of cancer.

“As well as kidney cancer, smoking can lead to cancers of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, bowel, ovary, cervix, breast and, in some cases, even leukaemia.

“It remains the biggest preventable cause of cancer worldwide and its impact can often span generations when children grow up seeing smoking as part of everyday life.

“Even after a cancer diagnosis, stopping smoking can significantly improve how well treatments work, support better recovery, increase the likelihood of survival and reduce the risk of cancer coming back.”

If you live in Yorkshire and the Humber  you can get six months access to all features on the Smoke Free app for free, including nicotine replacement medication as part of the campaign, worth up to £300.  Find out more at  yestoquit.co.uk

To watch Sheen talking about his smoking addiction and why he quit go to https://yestoquit.co.uk/sheens-story

Get in touch with your free, local stop smoking service here https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/health-and-well-being/stop-smoking.aspx

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.