Allentown woman who lost jaw to cancer shares anti-smoking message

Source: LehighVallyLive.com People often stare at Christine Brader. Sometimes strangers ask the Allentown woman what happened to her. She tells them, "I used to smoke." Tobacco users flinch when they hear her response, Brader says. Smoking led to oral cancer, which eventually cost the 49-year-old all of her teeth and part of her lower jaw.Brader has had three bouts with the disease since her first diagnosis five years ago, but is now cancer free. "I have to go through life disfigured, all because I made a bad decision and smoked," she says. Brader doesn't want others to follow in her footsteps, so she is working with Tobacco Free Northeast Pennsylvania to spread the word about the dangers of smoking. The organization serves a 10-county area, including Lehigh and Northampton, spokeswoman Alice Dalla Palu said. Brader recently shared her story in a radio advertisement broadcast during the week of World No Tobacco Day, which was May 31. In the ad -- part of the Centers for Disease Control "Tips from Former Smokers" campaign -- she describes preparing liquid meals and consuming them through a feeding tube. Last year, Brader appeared in a TV commercial for Truth, a national smoking prevention campaign that targets youth. BREAK THE HABIT: Call 1-800-784-8669 or visit tobaccofreene.com to get help quitting smoking. She started smoking at 16 to fit in with her peers and continued for 28 years. Brader quit cold turkey at 44 after learning in June 2007 that the growth inside her cheek was cancer. [...]