LEWISTON – Judith Tobin went to Healthy Androscoggin’s Great American Smokeout community event for support Thursday night.

“Right now, I’ve been 17 hours without a cigarette,” she said.

So far, “it’s not too bad.” she said. She’s armed with lollipops and candy to help fight her nicotine urges. She has to quit, she said, or she could face eviction.

Tobin, 66, has smoked one to two packs a day for 40 years. She lives in senior housing through the Auburn Housing Authority.

“As of Nov. 1, they informed all of us we would have to quit or go outdoors,” she said. Going outdoors to smoke isn’t doable for her, she said. Degenerative arthritis has left her needing a walker. To smoke, she’d have to go 25 feet from the building to a smoking shack.

“It’s not lit. It’s out back near the river,” Tobin said.

The first two times tenants are caught smoking in their apartment they face a fine. But the third time, it’s eviction, Tobin said.

“The hardest part of quitting is, I don’t have much activity. I sit in my recliner and watch TV. I don’t have a car.” When she watches court television or the news, she’s fine. “But if you watch a movie and they light up, I sit there and say, ‘Oh, drag it for me, baby.’ I want that cigarette.”

Being around people who don’t smoke and going to support meetings helps, she said.

If she quits, her circulation will improve. She had a heart attack last year, so quitting would help her heart, too, she said.

At first she was angry at the Auburn Housing Authority for the no-smoking rule. She has since mellowed.

“Quitting wasn’t my choice,” Tobin said. “But I’m glad it happened.”

Jim Fecteau of Freeport went to the smokeout event to get continued support.

He quit two years ago at age 54 after suffering a heart attack. “I messed up and smoked again,” he said, but only for two weeks. He suffered a second heart attack and nearly died. That was enough, he said.

His quit-smoking buddy, Linda Bourque of Lewiston, beamed as she announced she hadn’t smoked for 385 days. “I smoked for 36 years. This is the longest I’ve ever gone,” she said.

Bourque, 53, quit after losing four friends to lung cancer. “I was wheezing. It was scaring me,” she said.

At $4.50 a pack, Bourque said she’s saved $1,700 by not smoking. She has taught aerobics for years and as a smoker she could do aerobics, but she couldn’t run. “Now I run five miles. It feels awesome.”

She and Fecteau come to the support group every Thursday night at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.

“I can never let my guard down. I still want a cigarette now,” Bourque said. “Thank God for this program. We became like family here.”

Twenty-one percent of adults in Maine smoke and 24.5 percent of adults in Androscoggin County are smokers, said Sarah Mayberry, the tobacco coordinator for Healthy Androscoggin.

The annual smokeout event is designed to create awareness and to support smokers who want to quit, she said.

“The big message to smokers is, quitting isn’t easy, but you can quit,” Mayberry said. “We’re here to provide support. If you want to quit, there are people here to help.”

For more information go to: www.healthyandroscoggin.org.