The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's "Tips From Former Smokers" ads are set to stop at the end of September.

For 13 years, these tough and honest commercials told real stories about the harm of smoking and pointed people to free help at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. When the ads ran, calls to the quitline jumped, according to independent scientific research institute RTI International . Many people tried to quit and some stuck with it.

One of them is Leslie Allison-Seei. She says she's alive today because she called.

2025 Tips From Former Smokers ad campaign. CDC

Leslie started coughing up blood in 2014 after smoking for over 40 years. She'd been having bleeding fits for two weeks before going to the hospital, some so severe that blood splattered across the bathroom walls and floor

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