Antigoni (Noni) Glykos was Born on March 13, 1966

Employment - A Guide for Scandinavian Tourists in Greece

Person Most Admired - Her Mother

Favorite Movie - Out of Africa

Noni's Passion - Ancient History

Biggest Concern - Being Good at Motherhood

Favorite Food - Great Greek Fish Dishes

Favorite Colors - Blue, Black and White

Activity - Noni Loved to Travel

Favorite Song - Don't Pay the Ferryman

Favorite Drink - Ice Coffee Frappe

Favorite Musician - Richard Claiderman (pianist)

She was crazy about Christmas and loved decorating the house!

December 1998 Presents under the tree and a special gift in me!

December 18, 1998
Noni's son Konstantinos-Ion is born

A mothers Pride

December 25, 1998 The best Christmas ever!

February 10, 1999
Noni is diagnosed with lung cancer

February 13, 1999
She is told that she has less than nine months to live

February 14, 1999
Noni learns that her lung cancer has spread to her brain and kidneys


March 13, 1999
Noni shows courage and concern as she speaks at her final birthday
Her face is swollen as a tumor blocks blood flow back to her heart
Click here to watch a short clip of Noni turning 33 (2meg)

June 20th 1999

June 24, 1999 
Antigoni (Noni) Glykos Died

A victim of small cell lung cancer & cigarettes

Age 33 Years, 3 Months, 11 Days

She had started smoking cigarettes at age 14

Her dream of her and her husband building their own home died with her ..... as did her dream of having at least two children ...... as did all her other dreams ...... and many of the dreams of those who loved her


Visit Noni's Family's Memorial www.noniglykos.com

E-mail Noni's Family we_miss_you at noniglykos.com

A short note from Roddy Smith

When I contacted Noni’s family for permission to use her details her brother sent me a very simple but poignant e-mail in return.

Hello Roddy,

You don't need the permission since the site was made with that in mind, we hope as a family that our loss will help others quit.

God bless you

John (Noni's brother)”

Bryan Curtis

Bryan Curtis started smoking at 13, never thinking that 20 years later it would kill him and leave a wife and children alone. In his last weeks, he set out with a message for young people.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Cigarette smoke hangs in the air in the room where Bryan Lee Curtis lies dying of lung cancer.

His head, bald from chemotherapy, lolls on a pillow. The bones of his cheeks and shoulders protrude under taut skin. His eyes are open, but he can no longer respond to his mother or his wife, Bobbie, who married him in a makeshift ceremony in this room three weeks ago after doctors said there was no hope.

In Bryan's emaciated hands, Bobbie has propped a photograph taken just two months ago. It shows a muscular and seemingly healthy Bryan holding his 2-year-old son, Bryan Jr. In the picture, he is 33. He turned 34 on May 10.

A pack of cigarettes and a lighter sit on a table near Bryan's bed in his mother's living room. Even though tobacco caused the cancer now eating through his lungs and liver, Bryan smoked until a week ago, when it became impossible.

Across the room, a 20-year-old nephew crushes out a cigarette in a large glass ashtray where the butt joins a dozen others. Bobbie Curtis says she'll try to stop after the funeral, but right now, it's just too difficult. Same for Bryan's mother, Louise Curtis.

"I just can't do it now," she says, although she hopes maybe she can after the funeral.

Bryan knew how hard it is to quit. But when he learned he would die because of his habit, he thought maybe he could persuade at least a few kids not to pick up that first cigarette. Maybe if they could see his sunken cheeks, how hard it was becoming to breathe, his shrivelled body, it might scare them enough.

So a man whose life was otherwise unremarkable set out in the last few weeks of his life with a mission.

Bryan started when he was just 13, building up to more than two packs a day. He talked about quitting from time to time, but never seriously tried.

Plenty of time for that, he figured. Older people got cancer. Not people in their 30s, not people who worked in construction, as a roofer, as a mechanic.

He had no health insurance. But he was more worried about his mother, 57, who had smoked since she was 25.

"He would say, "Mom, don't worry about me. Worry about yourself. I'm healthy,' " Louise Curtis remembers. "You think this would happen later, when you're 60 or 70 years old, not when you're his age."

He knew, only a few days after he went to the hospital on April 2 with severe abdominal pain, how wrong he had been. He had oat cell lung cancer that had spread to his liver. He probably had not had it long. Also called small cell lung cancer, it's an aggressive killer that usually claims the lives of its victims within a few months.

While it seems unusual to the Curtis family, Dr. Jeffrey Paonessa, Bryan's oncologist, said he is seeing more lung cancer in young adults.

"We've seen lung cancer earlier and earlier because people are starting to smoke earlier and earlier," Paonessa said. Chemotherapy sometimes slows the process, but had little effect in Bryan's case, he said.

Bryan also knew, a few days after the diagnosis, that he wanted somehow to try to save at least one kid from the same fate. He sat down and talked with Bryan Jr. and his 9-year-old daughter, Amber, who already had been caught once with a cigarette. But he wanted to do more. Somehow, he had to get his story out.

When he still had some strength to leave the house, kids would stare.

"They'd come up and look at him because he looked so strange," Louise Curtis said. "He'd look at them and say, "This is what happens to you when you smoke.'

"The kids would say, "Oh, man. I can't believe it,' " Louise Curtis said.

In the last few weeks, Bryan's mother has been the agent for his mission to accomplish some good with the tragedy. She has called newspapers and radio and television stations, seeking someone willing to tell her son's story, willing to help give him the one thing he wanted before he died. Bryan never got to tell his story to the public. He spoke for the last time an hour before a visit from a Times reporter and photographer.

"I'm too skinny. I can't fight anymore," he whispered to his mother at 9 a.m. June 3. He died that day at 11:56 a.m., just nine weeks after the diagnosis.

Bryan Lee Curtis Sr. was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Petersburg on June 8, a rare cloudy day that threatened rain.

At the funeral service at nearby Blount, Curry and Roel Funeral Home, Bryan's casket was open and 50 friends and relatives could see the devastating effects of the cancer.

Addiction is more powerful.

As the graveside ritual ended, a handful of relatives backed away from the gathering, pulled out packs of cigarettes and lit up.

Originally Published on June 15, 1999 in the St. Petersburg Times

Sonny just couldn't believe it!  None of us could!  He started on chemo and radiation right away and things were going ok.  He didn't feel real badly - he never really did.  Well, believe it or not, Sonny was sneaking smokes!!!  Unbelievable, I know!  Bless his heart, he was an addict!  He couldn't stop.  Then one day, five months later, Sonny had a pulmonary hemorrhage in his lung and bled to death on the bathroom floor all alone.  That day a piece of me died along with Sonny and I decided that there must be a way to stop people from killing themselves.  There are no words to express how much we loved him and how much he is missed.  Please everyone, please, try to stop smoking so your loved ones won't have to hurt everyday because you're gone.  I love you Sonny!

Debbie, not having you with me leaves an enormous void in my life that will never be filled.  I am thankful for the time we had together and take comfort in knowing that you are at peace.  I love and miss you!

He was only 41 years old.  Sadly, we never got along well and we were not too involved in each others lives until he got sick.  I now know what a wonderful brother, son, and friend he was to many people and I missed out on all of those years with him.  I love him dearly and not a day goes by that my heart doesn't ache to hug him.  I have permanently quit smoking because of this tragedy and hope others do to.  I love you Chris!

It was heartbreaking to see Chris planning on how he was going to get so much done in his brand new business, once he felt better.  He did, indeed, work part of almost every day while undergoing chemo and radiation simultaneously.  He went into remission when the treatments were done--we knew it would be back, but never imagined it would be in only 2 weeks.  The stronger chemo he then took was almost surely the cause of his death; the cancer was spreading, but the chemo was deadly.  It took only 6 weeks, every day of it painful.

Now we are a family with no wonderful young man; he was our only son.  Anyone who wants to quit should spend time on the oncology floor of any hospital; not just for a visit, but to spend 48 hours non stop, with naps in the visitor's lounge.

Fred never accepted this was the end, and could never stop smoking, to the end.  A testimony to the chemical power of nicotine.  Now I am in my forties, and older than my big brother when he died, in 1995.  I want to rip cigarettes out of the mouths of every teen I see.  I wish they could see my brother, wasted away in him prime, and learn.  I wish they could see my mom, and envision how painful it must be to watch a son die slowly of a disease that could have been prevented.

Lung surgery, painful chemo, radiation, watching her lose her long beautiful hair, Melinda went through hell and she was so brave.  Then it spead to her brain and she lost her mobility.  It was sad!  Such a beautiful person yet so addicted to cigarettes, it just makes me furious that we make something in this country that kills people!  I can't understand that at all.  Melinda's son is now eighteen and he misses his mother desparately.  We all miss her so much!

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Lothian Hypnotherapy Clinic
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