I smoked for maybe 30 years and started when I was a teen because everyone else did,plus both my parents and older siblings . However I quit back in 2000 ( 25 years ago) hoping that I wouldn’t get this horrible disease. My father died from it 18 years ago. It was a terrible way to die so I was happy I had quit smoking after watching him. I was diagnosed with COPD back in April of this year. I had been having some symptoms before that and had a breathing test about 8 years ago when I noticed I was becoming short of breath when hiking up hills. At that time it was decided I did t have it. It continued to advance and I had a cough that wouldn’t do away for the last year . I also had a CT scan which confirmed my diagnosis