DR. WALLACE: My father smokes over two packs of cigarettes a day. I love him more than any human being on earth. He's a single parent and is doing a superb job of raising me (I'm 16) and my younger sister (she's 13) and my younger brother (he's 9). Our mother abandoned us six years ago and is now married to someone else and living in another state. We have no contact with her.

I know you encourage all your readers to give up smoking, or better yet, never to start, but I'm asking you one huge favor. My sister and I worry that my father could get lung cancer and die because of his smoking habit. We don't want this to happen. We need and love him too much for that. He never smokes in our house because he knows it is not good for us, but he smokes in our garage and that doesn't help him. Whenever we tell him that we don't want to lose him he admits that smoking can cause lung cancer, but he says he's too young for it to happen to him. He's only 43.

I remember that you printed a letter a while ago about a girl who said she lost her father to lung cancer because of his smoking habit and he was only in his early 40s. Would it be possible for you to reprint that letter so we could frame it and hang it up where our dad could see it every day? I'm hoping this could help him decide to quit his dangerous habit. We are good kids and he is a wonderful father so we want to have him around for a very long time. — Nameless, Detroit, Mich.

NAMELESS: It didn't take long to recover the letter you mentioned, and I hope your father will read it every day. Maybe in a short time he will be able to give up his smoking habit and prolong his life so that one day he will be as wonderful a grandfather as he is a father! The following letter is just for him:

DR. WALLACE: Last Friday night my father died at the age of 42. Daddy had asthma since he was a boy and it usually isn't fatal unless the person gets careless with his health. Daddy started smoking at age 17, and although he wasn't smoking when he died, the damage was already there — cancer. The doctors thought they might be able to operate on him, but then decided the cancer was too far advanced.

In a way I am relieved. Now I know Daddy isn't suffering anymore. But still, I feel cheated. Daddy will not help celebrate my high school graduation. He won't give me away when I get married. My future children will never have the opportunity to know what a wonderful man their grandfather was.

Dear readers, if you smoke, please stop. If you don't, please don't start. Parents, if you smoke, please think about my loss and give up the habit. If just one person's precious life is spared because of my letter, then the pain of watching my dear father suffer and die will be tempered with a little joy. — A faithful reader, Somewhere in Illinois.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.