Dubai: A terminally ill cancer patient who was recently featured in XPRESS because of his unique anti-tobacco campaign died in a Dubai hospital this week.

“Cigarette snatcher” Abraham Samuel, 53, as he was famously known breathed his last on Sunday at 6.15pm. He leaves behind his wife, 50, and two daughters, 22 and 20.

“He wished to die with his family beside him – and that [wish] was fulfilled,” his wife told XPRESS.

Abraham smoked two packets a day for 35 years and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010.

But instead of wallowing in self-pity, he took upon himself to ‘convert’ smokers around him to give up.

Abraham would confront strangers in public places and plead them to quit smoking. “When I see someone smoking, I simply walk up to them and ask them to give it up. People don’t always like it, but I don’t stop myself. Sometime I even open my shirt and show them my radiation marks – so they understand the severity of my condition. I don’t know how much time I have left in this world, but I will do as much as I can to tell people to give up smoking. I have stage IV lung cancer and am suffering everyday. For the last two months I’ve barely been able to move or walk around; I am coughing continuously and often go breathless while talking. There is a lesson that people can learn from me to give up smoking before it starts threatening their life,” he said in an interview published in XPRESS on May 29, just two days ahead of the Anti-Tobacco Day.

Abraham’s efforts were hailed by readers. One said: “Please give us Abraham’s contact number, maybe he can help me with a real life situation for someone who needs to see the effect of smoking through his eyes.”

Another reader wrote: “After reading about Abraham, I’ve decided to throw my cigarette packet away. God gave us a healthy body, why should we damage it?”

Two weeks back Abraham was admitted to a Dubai hospital as he had refused to go to India for treatment. “On Saturday, he was sipping water through a straw. Suddenly he coughed and stopped breathing. He rolled his eyes. We thought he was joking like he often used to. But alas, his time had come. The doctors put him on a ventilator but on Sunday he succumbed.”

Abraham worked in a stationery company, earning Dh3,500 a month. His sponsor did not cancel his visa although he was unable to work for months.