Many years ago I walked into my doctor's surgery with tight pains in my chest. I was 30 years old.

He sent me to the hospital for tests and when I went back he dropped the bombshell: "Martin, it is time that you quit smoking."

"Oh yes," I said laughing, "I've quit smoking lots of times."

The doctor wasn't smiling. "Your new baby is 6 months old, isn't she?"

"Yes, she's a beautiful baby."

"And how many cigarettes do you smoke each day would you say?"

"40 to 60." I was in a high stress job and I smoked to keep awake through the late nights working.

"Then I've got some bad news. You have got a form of angina and if you don't stop smoking right away - and I don't mean cut down a bit, I mean really quit smoking once and for all - you'll be very lucky to see your daughter's 5th birthday."

When someone tells you that, believe me, you pay attention! I'd always known in the back of my mind that I'd have to quit smoking someday, but I was only 30 years old! The thing was, my doctor wasn't a scaremonger. I'd known him for years and was convinced that he was telling it to me straight.

I had no choice: I had to quit smoking and I had to do it right away. I handed him my packet of cigarettes and said, "Well, it looks as if I'm now an ex-smoker!"

The next two weeks were tough. I wasn't mentally prepared to give up and I hadn't expected to go cold turkey there and then. But I kept the image of my daughter firmly in my mind every time I felt my resolve start to weaken.

Don't let anyone tell you that it's easy to quit smoking. It is a physical and a mental addiction and quitting smoking is tough. But when you have the certain knowledge that if you weaken, you will literally put a nail in your own coffin, an inner strength appears that really does help you through it.

After two weeks of misery I actually started to have odd days when I didn't think about smoking. I felt deep down inside that a barrier had been crossed and started to believe in myself as an ex smoker.

I avoided the places that would naturally make me want to smoke - I became a lot less sociable for a while - but by the time a month was up, I honestly lost the urge to smoke completely.