IOWA CITY - Iowa's annual report on cancer is out, and the numbers have doctors smiling.

Over the last nine years the number of Iowans' lives saved has steadily increased.

From 1997 to 2005, more than 3,000 cancer patients have survived. Still more than 15,000 Iowans will be diagnosed with cancer this year. And 6400 of them will die. But doctors say the lower numbers show a change in the fight against cancer.

Doctors say quitting smoking is one of the best ways to prevent cancer. Before tobacco, lung cancer was a rare disease in this country. Not any more. The latest estimates nearly 2,000 Iowans will die this year alone.

One eastern Iowa man nearly lost his battle with cancer. He knows what's at stake.

Doctors have been telling us to quit smoking for years. Today lung cancer is the most deadly form of cancer in Iowa. And tobacco is the most identifiable risk factor for cancer.

Before tobacco use was common, which was 100 years ago in this country, lung cancer was a very rare disease.

Ben Johnson knows all about the disease. He was diagnosed with lung cancer two months after quitting smoking.

The 74-year-old smoked two packs a day. He hasn't had a puff in seven and a half years. But the cigarettes are still there. Two packs sit in his pick-up. Bought seven and a half years ago, still unwrapped. You might wonder why a man trying to quit would keep temptation so close.

Dorothy Johnson says the doctor wouldn't have performed her husband's surgery if he hadn't quit smoking.

Johnson survived. He has no desire to smoke again. And doctors hope others can learn from his experience.

If you're interested in quitting you can call Quitline Iowa. The number is on your screen, 866-quit-now.