Jackie Gomes used to be a smoker. She picked up the bad habit when she was 13 and, since then, had tried multiple times to quit but never seemed to be able to snuff the butts.
"I'm 55 now and I can't believe I don't smoke anymore," she exclaimed.
Jackie had emergency surgery in December when doctors discovered she was bleeding in her brain, caused by cancer.
"I woke up one day and my neck was hurting so bad," Gomes said. "I took Tylenol all day and finally, when I tried to go to bed that night, I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep."
She drove herself to the hospital and doctors, who she described as "just kids," began running tests.
"They put me in this machine that spun 'round and 'round over me. The. They told me I was being rushed to surgery because they found the cancer."
Since that day, Gomes hasn't touched a cigarette or drank any coffee, something she says she used to "live on" prior to the surgery. Now, smelling the stuff doesn't even tempt Gomes like it had previously. Gomes said she suffers some short-term memory issues now and again, but it's not a concern.
"The doctors said, if that happens, 'Don't be scared, someone was poking in your brain,'" she laughed. "People are always surprised and ask me if I ever want to pick it up. I tell them no, I just wake up and go on with my day. And I'm still here to do that."
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