(FOXNEWS) — Terrie Hall has toured the country, speaking at schools and community gatherings about her firsthand experience with smoking-related illness. But the 51-year-old throat cancer survivor ventured beyond her comfort zone when she appeared in a national television ad, in which she’s seen putting in false teeth and covering her stoma with a scarf.
“That was kind of hard to do,” Hall said. “I had never taken my wig off in public before.”
Hall said she participated in the ad because of her strong belief in its message that tobacco use not only kills, but causes lingering illness that can affect quality of life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted extensive research into the most effective way to deliver that message.
“Finding out that you’re going to die doesn’t really help people,” said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden. “And people don’t empathize with their lungs. So, showing the picture of a lung may not be as effective as showing a real person and what happens to that individual.”