Dad quit smoking cold turkey 15 yrs ago. When his daughter found out what he asked god in return, she cried

Parents do so much for us behind the scenes, and it's often not until much later that we finally understand what they gave up for us. One woman recently learned something similar her father did, and that completely changed how she saw his love for her. Posting her story under the username u/Captain__Sarah on Reddit, the 32-year-old shared what her father 'sacrificed' for her 15 years ago, and it always "brings a smile" to her face.

She shared that while growing up, she saw her father smoke a lot, nearly two packs a day. "When I learned about the dangers of smoking in school, I started to ask him to quit. He never listened; his addiction was just greater than all my begging, bickering, and educating, apparently," she wrote. At 17, she began experiencing health issues while her parents were on vacation. She was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a painful and chronic inflammation of the intestines. "I basically went through this alone, since my bf back then was shitty support," she wrote. Following the incident, she immediately started her treatment and "got on medication."

She told her parents and continued her treatment for a 7 days. "It was a scary and painful week," she wrote. Eventually, she moved on with her life, never really revisiting that moment–until just now. "A few weeks back, my dad was talking to my husband and told him something he never told anyone before," she wrote. Although she wasn't supposed to know, her husband shared the secret piece of information with her. "Back when my parents got the news about me having health problems, my dad was scared out of his mind. He had lost his mom to ovarian cancer that was diagnosed way too late, so he jumped to the worst scenario and thought he might lose his only child as well," she said. That fear pushed him to do something no one expected.

She wrote, "My dad is an atheist, but when he heard about my issues, he decided to pray." He told himself that he would give up smoking in exchange for the better health of his daughter. Even though it was "the hardest thing for him to do, he could prove that he'd do anything for me." And he did — her father went "from 40 cigarettes to 0 just like that" without any nicotine patches or other assistance. She said that it might have been more difficult since he was also stressed about his daughter's health, but he never told her that, never wanted to burden her with any of it. "[I] just thought that he, for whatever reason, decided to do something for his own health. Never would I have guessed he did it for mine," she confessed.

She concluded her post by expressing gratitude towards her father, saying, "I'm just so, so thankful to have a father who loves me so much more than I ever imagined and would do anything for me. And I'm really hoping my husband and I can live up to those standards as parents for our daughter." The post hit home for 14,000 readers, and many shared their thoughts on how parents can go above and beyond for their children's well-being. u/H0ppyWizard said, "What an amazing father you have. Good dads don't get enough recognition. This is such a beautiful post to read 1st thing in the morning! Thank you so much for sharing." u/AdvancedTower401 commented, "The awesome side effect is he'll have more years left to spend with you." u/fishsticks40 shared, "I quit for my kiddo. It's the only thing that got me there, but it did."