A CAMPAIGN warning how smoking can cause 16 types of cancer has inspired thousands of North-East smokers to quit.

Fresh's Quit 16 campaign, supported by Cancer Research UK, highlighted the toll that smoking-related cancers have on families in the region.

There was an estimated 3,077 new cases of cancer and 2,192 deaths from cancer in the North-East in 2013.

Smoking is the biggest cause of lung cancer, but it also causes cancers of the mouth, nasal cavities, throat (pharynx and larynx), stomach, kidney, bowel, liver, pancreas, cervix, bladder, ovaries, oesophagus and ureter, as well as myeloid leukaemia.

Quit 16 shared the stories of former smokers from across the region who have been affected by a smoking-related cancer, including Dave McKenna, from Saltburn, who lost his hearing after mouth cancer treatment, Maggie Bratton, from Northumberland, who needed surgery and a plastic replacement for the roof of her mouth which she now cannot speak without, Tony Osborne, from Middlesbrough, who now speaks using a valve in his neck after throat cancer, and Lauren Joyce, from Stockton, whose dad begged his family to quit smoking before he died of bowel cancer.

Research after the campaign found that nine per cent of smokers who saw the advert - about 28,000 people - made an attempt to quit. Another 16 per cent cut down (about 53,000 smokers) and four per cent, or 13,000 people, switched to electronic cigarettes.

Dr Tony Branson, Medical Director - Cancer, NHS England’s Northern England Strategic Clinical Networks, said: “Preventing cancer is always better than treating it, and every year thousands of people in the North East are diagnosed with, or receive treatment for cancers as a result of years of smoking."

To get help in quitting, ask at a GP surgery or pharmacy, or contact a local stop smoking service for help.