Star of Anti-Smoking Campaign Still Puffs
Skip Legault, after two heart attacks and an amputated leg, still can't quit.
Jan. 11, 2008 — -- The ads are shocking in their graphic depiction of the effects of smoking.
Skip Legault, with his tale of two heart attacks, strokes and an amputated right leg, has become the star of anti-smoking posters and commercials blanketing New York since December.
But the 48-year-old former repairman isn't getting the message -- Legault said he still smokes up to a full pack of Marlboros every day.
"I can't stop smoking," Legault told ABCNEWS.com. "I've been smoking since I was 8, and I'm afraid to quit."
Legault insisted that his appearance in the ads is not hypocritical, because he never claims he quit smoking. "I don't feel like a hypocrite, because I'm not telling people what to do. I'm not telling them not to smoke. I'm just showing them what happens."
What's happened to Legault since he started smoking at the age of 8 has been a long decline in health. After suffering two heart attacks in his late 20s, he had a stroke in 1993, which forced him to stop working, and at least seven blood clots that led doctors to amputate his lower leg due to gangrene.
"I'd love to walk again, and I'll never be able to do that. Just walk down the street holding hands with someone."
In addition, he's had difficulty engaging in some of his favorite pastimes, like hunting and fishing. "I fell out of my boat once. I put a stick in my eye while I was deer hunting, and a I hit a beaver hole in my four-wheeler and flipped over and was pinned in the creek for an hour until someone came along."
He's seen his commercial many times, which has been airing since December, and it makes him depressed about his condition. "It's been affecting me because it makes me realize how sick I am," he said. "Watching my commercial, I'm reliving it all the time. It's on all the time."
Although they're painful to watch, Legault is proud of the ads. He was prompted to volunteer for the New York Department of Health's anti-smoking campaign by his sister's work with teen smokers and by the death of his 16-year-old daughter, Sabrina, in a 2000 traffic accident.
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