“I was very saddened to learn of the death of Barbara Tarbox,” said Heather Crowe, a volunteer with Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.

 “I met Barb two months ago in Edmonton.  At that time, her lung cancer had progressed to the fourth stage; it had spread to her brain.  I knew she had very little time left.  My own inoperable lung cancer from passive smoking is at the third stage, so I have a little more time, hopefully a few years, to carry on where Barb left off in the campaign to create a smoke-free Canada,” said a determined Ms Crowe.

 “Barb was a fighter and very determined.  She inspired me to work even harder to help create a smoke-free Canada,” said Ms Crowe in tribute to Barb Tarbox.  “At the same time, meeting her was terrifying.  Seeing how far her cancer had advanced and hearing her stories about pain and morphine was very troubling.  It is a terrifying fate that I dread,” she said.

 Ms Crowe continued, “I felt we were meeting on the road to death.  She represented smokers and I represent non-smokers.  We were teaming up to fight the great giant of death – tobacco – that was killing the two of us, and thousands of other smokers and non-smokers too.  Now that Barb is gone, I am more determined than ever to carry on the fight against tobacco, in the names of both of us.”

 “For the time remaining to me, I will be campaigning hard to make all workplaces in Canada smoke-free.  On Friday, May 23, I will meet with the Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation in Gatineau, Québec.  I will ask them to work with the Ministers of Labour across this country to create new federal, provincial and territorial regulations that will make all Canadian workplaces smoke-free,” said Ms Crowe.  “That is how they can help me realize my dying wish, to be the last person to die from second-hand smoke at work,” she concluded.

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