Amyrah M. is a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-area high school student who lost her mother to lung cancer when she was just 14 years old. “My mom would smoke quite often,” said Amyrah, who first learned of the dangers of smoking at school. “I would go home and tell her that smoking is bad for you. She knew it was, but it was hard for her to quit.”
A few years ago, Amyrah’s mom started coughing up phlegm and becoming very weak. Soon after, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
“It was very hard for me and my brother,” said Amyrah. Even though her mother became very skinny and struggled to walk. “We held out hope. We thought she would get better.” After “a journey that was definitely difficult to go through,” her mother died in January of 2023. “We thought she would get better, so it was hard to adjust [after she died]” said Amyrah who is the oldest of five children.
Shortly after her mother’s passing, Amyrah decided to join the Dauphin County TRU (Tobacco Resistance United) program. Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and managed by the American Lung Association and the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco (PACT), this statewide coalition brings together students ages 12-18 who are passionate about stopping the lies of Big Tobacco companies and creating a tobacco-free future. Every day, almost 2,500 children under 18 years of age try their first cigarette, and more than 400 of them will become new individuals who regularly smoke.1 Half of them will ultimately die from their addiction.2
Members of TRU host events at and in partnership with area schools, YMCAs, YWCAs, Big Brothers Big Sisters, LGBTQ+ organizations and more. These students educate their friends and peers about the dangers of smoking, vaping and the use of other tobacco products.
Amyrah was drawn to the program because it would allow her to share her strong views on smoking while also honoring her late mother. “I was very nervous to meet everyone, but they were extremely warm and welcoming,” said Amyrah of the TRU group. “They took me in.”
Amyrah says her interactions with the other students have been “heartwarming to silly,” as events include games, projects and other fun exchanges with educational components.
Lung Association staff oversee the program, and students utilize the organization’s online resources, including the TRU Storm Toolkit providing activities for tobacco-free events. These include things like Jeopardy and sport competitions, poster contests, movie night ideas and more. These creative events can, in a fun way, help students better understand the harmful effects of tobacco use. TRU members also pledge to remain tobacco-free.
“When you see a kid who is very educated about a topic that you don’t know much about, you begin to trust them and you think ‘let me hear this person out,” said Amyrah. “I have passion, and I try to incorporate enthusiasm in all my interactions so that when I meet people who haven’t heard about the group, I am able to tell them more and get them interested.
“I want them to become inspired to do good not only for themselves but for their community. It’s a beautiful waterfall that trickles down. It’s coming together as a community to put a stop to something that is harmful to us all,” she continued.
Last year, Amyrah attended her first TRU Day At The Capitol event, where she and more than 300 students met with state senators and representatives to talk about the dangers of smoking and the importance of tobacco cessation and education programs. She said the event was “Awe inspiring; I loved the environment and that we were able to meet with so many people.”
For her efforts and enthusiasm in promoting TRU initiatives and a tobacco-free lifestyle, Amyrah was named the Pennsylvania TRU Advocate of the Year in 2024. The award, she says, was “a very big moment for me, inspiring me to go even deeper into my knowledge and the ways I communicate what I know about the dangers of smoking.”
Amyrah is currently a Nursing Foundation student at Dauphin County Technical High School, where she is gaining knowledge and experience that she plans to use in nursing school and beyond. Her hope is to someday work as a labor and delivery nurse.
“Amyrah is an inspiration,” said Julia McAfee, a Lung Association health promotions specialist who oversees the Dauphin Country TRU program. “She has taken the trauma and experience of losing her mother to lung cancer and has used it to passionately help others avoid the dangers and health risks of tobacco use. She is a role model to her peers and all of us who are committed to ending tobacco use.”
In addition to supporting the Pennsylvania TRU program, the Lung Association offers broad programs and resources to help prevent teens and young adults from smoking, vaping and using tobacco products. These include programs for school administrators, including the Comprehensive Approach to Ending the Youth Vaping Model and INDEPTH® (Intervention for Nicotine Dependence: Education, Prevention, Tobacco and Health); and tobacco cessation resources specifically for teens. More recently, the Lung Association launched a youth vaping prevention campaign, in collaboration with the Ad Council, providing resources and encouraging parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of vaping.
And these efforts are working, with the new 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey e-cigarette and nicotine pouch data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showing a 70% decline in the number of middle and high school students using tobacco since the peak of the epidemic.
Learn more about how the Lung Association’s “Kids and Smoking” resources at Lung.org.
Blog last updated: February 21, 2025
