By Bridget Brady
A HAMPTON Park man says he will cut back on the ciggies after almost 60 years of smoking following a health scare on the weekend when his friend had to call the ambulance.
Dimitrios Jorbanou, 72, started to cough as he watched television about 8.30pm on Sunday night and suddenly could not breathe.
If his friend Janet Francis had not been home to call the ambulance, Mr Jorbanou said he could have died.
He said paramedics and staff at Casey Hospital were wonderful and he thanked them for their support.
“If not for those people I would not be alive. I thought I was nearly gone.”
Mr Jorbanou said he thought he was on his way to paradise, “but unfortunately no luck”, he laughed.
Mr Jorbanou said it was time to curb his cigarette habit and light up less often after doctors told him on Sunday he had emphysema. He has been smoking since he was 13.
“I have to be careful.”