Stories can remind you that you don’t need to take that next step alone.
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These stories were shared with care and with permission. This website will not ask you to sign up, share your name, or leave anything behind. You are welcome to read, take what helps, and move at your own pace.
Stories can carry comfort. They can make hard topics feel less scary, like screening or quitting commercial tobacco. They can remind us that we don’t have to walk alone.
Want to learn more? Visit Lung Cancer Screening or Quitting Support.
Teachings and experiences can be different across Tribes, families, and communities. Take what helps and leave the rest.
Do you really know where you came from?
I grew up Sioux but never close to any of it, until two Native veterans at the Elders' center opened the door back to my own people. What I found wasn't a guarantee of answers, just a direction: help the next person who has less than you do.
Next step: Learn more about medicine bags
Don't let the stories burn the way the totem poles did.
I grew up hearing “prayers up, tobacco down” before I fully understood what it meant. Family memories, songs, blankets, and potlatch stories helped me understand how teachings can stay alive.
Next step: Learn about traditional tobacco
That's the door I want to open.
I didn’t understand my own heritage until I was older. Now my daughter and I help others learn what our traditions mean, including how traditional tobacco is different from commercial tobacco.
Next step: Learn about traditional tobacco
There’s nothing like a grandmother’s love, and I never got that piece of it.
I lost many of my Native ways before I had the chance to learn them. Over time, sound, stories, drumming, flute, and community became ways to reconnect with culture and make space for healing.
What matters most to me now is remembering I represent my grandchildren every time I make a choice.
Smoking stayed with me through decades of building a life as a carver, a mother, and a community leader, even after I quit once and relapsed under stress. Getting healthy enough to quit for good gave me more years to carry my culture and my family's stories forward.
Next step: Learn more about lung health