Gretchen Hoffman
Patricia Henley hasn't seen a dime of the millions in damages she
won from Philip Morris four years ago, but it's not about money for
the Glendale resident -- it's about children.
Henley, 55, was the first sick smoker to get a case against the
tobacco magnate to trial, and a jury awarded her more than $50
million -- far beyond what she'd asked for. A trial judge reduced the
punitive damages by half, and an appeal is pending.
Instead, she plans to use it to get the newly formed Patricia
Henley Foundation off the ground. The foundation, which is "at a
standstill" pending the outcome of the appeal, will offer a six-week
camp, mainly for children with respiratory problems or cancer, to
teach them theater and the arts. It will also teach children about
the dangers of smoking.
She gives speeches to area groups, high school health classes and
graduates and is trying to hammer out a regular schedule of talks at
retirement homes.
Her message isn't about quitting; rather it is to protect others'
from the harmful effects of smoking.
"I don't tell people to quit, that's just not my job," she said.
"My job is to educate people as to what's in a cigarette and what
they can look forward to in life."
"If you cannot give up your cigarettes, take it outside and don't
smoke in front of your children. It's like I told Philip Morris: 'You
may have gotten me and you may have gotten my daughter, but you won't
get my granddaughter.'"
Henley -- who started smoking at 15 because she thought it was
glamorous and made her look older -- credits the lawsuit against the
company that sold the cigarettes that gave her cancer with keeping
her alive.
After she was diagnosed with lung cancer and given four months to
live in 1998, she began reading everything she could get her hands on
about cancer, but one day someone brought her some literature about
what the tobacco industry knew, and when.
"It was like somebody breathed life into me," she said. "It kept
me alive so I could tell the truth."
Her cancer is in remission, but she knows that if the cancer comes
back it will come "with a vengeance."
"I know ultimately I'm going to be caught, but I'm going to do it
looking the way I want to," she said. "I'm not going to go through
[chemotherapy] again."
"I tell everybody 'I feel great today, ask me tomorrow.'"
