Jobs hid cancer for nine months before seeking treatment, damn
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 5th 2008 1:26AM
posted Mar 5th 2008 1:26AM
CNN has a pretty extensive profile on El Jobso -- the likes of which seem to appear almost monthly these days in the mainstream media publication of your choosing -- but one of the more interesting tidbits is that apparently he sat on his pancreatic cancer for nine friggin' months before seeking treatment back in 2004. To put that in perspective, although his diagnosis was curable at the time, pancreatic cancer is considered to be among the most deadly forms and despite the urgings of the very few friends, family, and associates in the know, Steve apparently sought to cure himself holistically for three quarters -- while everyone else (including Pixar, where he was also CEO) was in the dark. Of course, eventually he gave in and got the surgery he so desperately needed to make his recovery; water under the bridge now, but Apple shareholders certainly must have a feeling or two about Jobs coming so close to the brink.[Thanks, Adhik]
awww.... poor Steve-o.
I'm very glad that he is apparently OK, but... Dumb Stev-o
for a second i thought i was on TUAW...
engadget, dipping down to new lows... really is this news???
Maybe now he'll put in million/billion dollars in research to fight cancer.
1 death too early... couldn't he have waited another few months?..
Pancreatic Cancer: Most fatal, least funded in terms of research. The five-year survival rate is in the single digits. Steve is very lucky.
hmmm, actually cancer of the head of the pancreas is painless. so he probably noticed the problem when he started turning yellow (jaundice) or after noticing that he's shit started floating and is rather pale and stinks as hell. plus its harder to flush (steathorea).
hmmm, 9 months of super stinky shit thats hard to flush. why would anyone want to live with that for that long. unless he took pancreatic enzyme supplements.
am glad he's ok now. still not a smart move.
long live his steveness
Actually, there are many different types of pancreatic neoplasms. But they carry different prognosis. For instance if this has been the really lethal pancreatic adenocarcinoma, he would be dead already, this is the really bad player and life expectancy virtually 0% at 5 years with most dying months after diagnosis.
There are other malignancies that are less agressive and some can be slow growing, or even non-malignant such as a microcystic serous adenoma.
As I recall, he had a neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas, which is entirely different than pancreatic adenocarcinoma (which is what people often think about when they say pancreatic cancer), and if caught early can be cured. Even if caught later it may still be able to be cured so long as it has not metastasized (typically to the liver).
His problem was that cancer was never planned as part of his iLife.
"Maybe now he'll put in million/billion dollars in research to fight cancer."
I doubt it
@superfresh: I think what you meant to say is that he is very rich. It has little to do with luck.
as much as i admire and hate him, i feel pretty bad that he has cancer. He is definitely the heart and sole of apple. I would be such a same if anything happen to him.
He HAD cancer.
Wait a sec, I'm confused....Apple uses him as a shoe?
Oh great.. now all the apple fanboys will think getting cancer is cool...
STFU and think before making a stupid comment like that.
not funny.
angry 11 year old fanboy alert ^^^ everybody watch out!
Ha ha, no, that IS funny.
It's expensive enough, and it does make people look at you differently.
Am I the only one who found that funny? Maybe I'm just sick...
No man, Cancer is still lame, iCancer on the other side...
If you cant laugh at cancer then the terrorists have won
Normally I'd find this type of comment quite offensive, but dang, that WAS funny.
What's funny is that I wrote it on a MacBook Pro. I'm not a fanboy. heh. I have a desktop with vista x64 and a macbook pro. All computers have their uses, I choose the best based on what I want to do with it, NOT on who the CEO is. :)
now no wonder why the apple fanbois are always so keen on reading whenever jobs go to the bathroom
yes. I am, but I won't.
but a Mac that could be used inside bathroom is, cool.
I hope from the depths of my heart that he makes a 100% full recovery, because 2 members of my family have had run ins with cancer and I know how scary and stressful these times can be to a person and the people he/she loves.
The entire article is written in past tense and it clearly states he was treated in 2004. He doesn't have cancer anymore.
Why is it that people are not outraged or concerned when cancer is one of the most prevalent and important issues of the century until a famous person has it? This is not the only person who is sick, we need to be aware of the fact that it is still a huge problem in the world and make all conscious effort to battle against it.
I think most people know someone with cancer and want to or actively fight against it. Everyone is concerned, though perhaps not "outraged."
Much like ANYTHING with famous people, it's interesting if it is about them, it's not if it's about average Joe. Clothes, cars, cancer you name it. While you may not like that, at least it can serve to make the public more aware. Heard of the "Katie Couric Effect"- when her colonoscopy on Today boosted colonoscopies by 20% for nearly a year?
battle it? we can eventually end up controlling it maybe, like we do diabetes, but you'll never beat it.
cancer is an old age disease. there is nothing you can do about it as far as that is concerned
you know.. you're absolutely right engadget should have done a story about my grandmother dieing of cancer
But there are commercials!
was he waiting for his flexspend to kick in or something? glad he's ok, though. still not a smart move.
especially for pancreatic cancer.
Steve didn't get cancer, the cancer got Steved.
Holistic medicine is dangerous and should never be recommended as a substitute for proper treatment for serious diseases!
I say it's dangerous because I know so many people who would blindly put all their faith in so called 'natural healing' whilst they slowly die!
(there are shops in my area which claim they can cure/treat anything with holistic medicine including HIV, cancer, etc! They charge loads too, what a con!)
Consider it for trivial ailments only.
Or as complementary treatments to your prescribed therapies. And then, only if you tell your doc what you're taking. Things interact, you know, and sometimes very badly.
Damn straight. People who seek "alternative" therapies are basically relying on the placebo effect to cure themselves of a very serious illness. The sad thing is this is can be a fatal decision. I suppose there is nothing wrong in getting acupuncture or chanting or whatever IF you are rigorously seeking proper medical treatment as well. It doesn't mean it does anything though.
That is exactly my reaction to this story. I understand the motivation for seeking "natural" treatment, but it is so misguided. You would think someone as smart as Steve Jobs would make better decisions.
Holistic medicine is of course, bs. IF it really worked, why wouldn't that be what we were all taking??? Some people can't think.
Wow I swear I have read this same exact text before.
I guess every once in a while the fact that Jobs is basically an aging hippie bites him in the ass.
Seriously, though, the way I look at it, herbal/"holistic" medicine is basically at the bottom of the scale. *Some* herbal medicines do what they say on the tin, usually to the minimum degree possible. A lot of the time, the scientific community identifies these, distills them out or synthesizes the active component and makes a much more powerful drug out of them.
Of course, lots of them are hokum and snake oil, and either way, if I get cancer, I want the strongest, ass-kickingest treatment they can give me. I want it dead *tomorrow*. If Jobs didn't realize that YOUR LIFE IS ON THE LINE, he's not as smart as most people think.
Holistic healing+cancer? Is jobs that f***ing stupid?
Apparently. But, if he had one of the more severe pancreatic cancers (that almost inevitably result in death), then his choice wouldn't have been bizarre. Maybe he misread his diagnosis...for 9 months.
yeah, and he didn't include an Ethernet port on the macbook air.
i'm not sure which one is dumber.
Your purchase of a router that doesn't have wifi?
Yea. Cause wifi is flawless.
Or, don't bother with alternative medicines at all. If they actually worked, they would just be called "medicines", wouldn't they?
No. It works, but we have almost everyone against us. People refuse to believe something this cheap will cure them. And "doctors" refuse to lose their money/business.
I work with alt. medicine, and I tell you:
1. This is CHEAP (well, almost all alternative methods are cheap), these places where they charge you alot are total scam! Don't take them as a reference point for those of us who practice REAL alternative medicine.
And 2. Yes, we can HELP cure cancer... I said help, not totally cure... ie. it is a complement to a real treatment, not a substitute.
There is definitely much confusion and misconceptions surroundiing alternative medicine. Of course there are the zealots that avoid all conventional intervention and on the other end of the spectrum you have the rigidly empirical if-i-dont-understand-it-it-doesn't-exist type of people who claim everyone involved in holistic/alternative/homeopathic medicine is a fraud.
The reality is somewhere in between those extremes. There are definitely many snake-oil salesmen, and people out to make a buck by defrauding others. However, there are also many, many practitioners of legitimate forms of treatment/therapy.
It's best to become educated as much as possible on different schools of medicine and therapy, a t o seek out knowledgeable experts with a long track record of professionalism and success.
DarkLight,
And more to the point, nothing can 'cure' cancer. Modern medicines and radiotherapy only aim to reduce cancerous growths in the body so that you can eek out a few more years, or get back on top of your immune system, depending on how your luck and mental positivity are. To ignore the effect of the mind on the body is folly, but current orthodox cancer treatments take it out of the equation altogether. There is nothing negative about placebo, except that if people realised they didn't need to swallow something to control their bodies they'd be better off in the long run.
So-called alternative therapies aim not to 'fight' battles they can't win, but instead work with the body's own immune system. To batter oneself with radioactivity is a last resort.
What patients and others must understand is that we give ourselves cancer, or at least cancerous growths, as there are damaged (cancerous) cells in everyone at all times, but in healthier people there are less, over which the immune system has control.
Jobs probably has a stressful schedule, and that combined with his anal attitude toward his products and perhaps a poor diet go a long way to explaining his cancer.
bob: You're right and wrong...
Wrong: It CAN be cured (as in totally cured)
Right: Everything else you said..
Just curious. Isn't there a legal obligation to notify the board or the company about such matters if you are a CEO of a publically traded multi billion dollar corporation?
Not if they can still do their jobs, according to the article.
Time to sell my shares
I have seriously lost so much respect for steve now, i have no time for idiots.
'holistic treatment?'
talk about a god complex
You are a moron. Or just sheeple. Since I don't know you, I'm unable to decide.
Well ALL know Jobs is some kind of GOD, if not THE GOD. Why wouldn't he cure himself?? His is the power, the knowledge and the future... Hail Steve.
Ok, Joke's aside, this really struck me... Come on it was cancer, and he was trying to cure holistically??? It does make him look not that smart...
Flow of code: BSD folks -> OSX
Flow of money: mac users -> marketing team
he will himself to have cancer, there... is... no... other... explanation... {apple mind control}
And coming out in MacWorld of 09'
iCure
the revolutionary new system, allowing you to self cure yourself from cancer.
each iCure comes with a time capsule, so you can save all your precious moments from iPhoto and iMovies so you re-live your fondest memories.
Priced at: You better hope it kills you because you'll be paying for it for life, respectively.
---
this isnt meant to be an a-hole comment, sorry If I offend anyone.
I feel like I have to chime in here on this cancer issue ....
1) Cancer is not a "disease." You can't catch it or give it to someone through contact. Its not caused by a microorganism. (All of this is also true for "diseases" like diabetes, heart disease, etc). Rather, cancer is a METABOLIC DISORDER.
2) Steve still "has" cancer, as does everyone reading this post, myself included. You develop thousands of cancerous cells EVERY DAY that your immune system, if health, promptly destroys. Tumors are simply an observable SYMPTOM of cancer. The REAL cause of cancer is a severe metabolic imbalance that takes decades to develop into tumors. This involves a complex equation of nutrition/lifestyle/emotional/environmental factors weighing on your immune system. One can then argue that to "cure" cancer, one would need to improve ones nutritional intake (with nutrients scientifcally proven to destroy cancer cells), improve lifestyle (get natural sunlight and exercise), curb negative emotions and prevent environmental contamination (pollutants, EMF, etc).
Steve was a vegetarian, which would have helped him in one of the above areas, but he must have been lacking in some of the others. Since no one knows the specifics of how he tried to cure his cancer holistically, we'll never know exactly where he fell short.
I realize that this must sound like nonsense to a lot of the uninitiated, but if that applies to you, then you have a LOT to learn about nutrition, the cancer industry and the politics of cancer and cure.
And for those of you who think that I'm full of crap, check out crazysexycancer.com (a documentary about a woman who beat a terminal, rare spinal cancer via natural means) and naturalnews.com (and search for cancer) . And open your minds. :)
Wow, that was a lot of nonsense! For example, some cancers ARE caused by viruses. The rest of your comment was pretty much off base too.
Yes cervical cancer is caused by a virus. I didn't feel like mentioning it since I was speaking of cancer in a general sense.
And please tell me how the rest of my argument is "off base." I'd love to see this.
Give a guy a computer, the internet, google, wikipedia and he thinks he's a doctor.
:-P we're gadget geeks mostly, leave the medical stuff to the folks who decided to devote 10 years of their lives to the schooling and then extra, and who do the work, no need for you guys to argue over what you think you know whether its fact or false lol.
cant we all just... get along.
Anthony,
1) I agree with you that this is a blog for gadget geeks and medical discussion do not normally belong here. The only reason I mentioned it was because holistic medicine was in the context of the article and it was being trashed in the comments.
2) I've spent several years researching all aspects of natural health, and in fact I make my living writing about it, so I think I qualify to be able to talk about it.
3) Over the years, medical doctors, in 4 years of medical school, get about half an hour to 4 hours of nutritional education, depending on the school. I, having a thousand times that amount, can justify my argument.
And if you don't like what I say, you can just not comment on it.
You were doing well for a little while there. However your post goes off the deep end about 7 words in. Your ideas of cancer do not explain pediatric oncology wings. Children get cancers. Hell newborns can get cancer, or I guess by your definitions, they can get tumors. It does not take years to develop cancer. Some cancers, like small cell lung cancer can manifest in weeks and months and you're dead before you have a chance to see the movie in the trailer you just watched.
But hell, don't listen to me. If you're worried about cancer, and are looking for real ways to live healthier, talk to your damned physician! You know, that bloke who spent 8+ years learning about every last inch of our bodies. Don't listen to the prat at the natural health foods section of your local shopping mart who thinks showers are how the devil gets inside you.
Further, @Colin Jensen, you're also close, but a couple notes: HPV (Human papillomavirus) do not cause cancer, but rather can significantly increase your likelihood of getting cervical cancer, along with a host of other kinds of cancer. The viral DNA is very, well potent isn't the best word, but it'll do. It's like like George Bush. It's lumbering and stupid, but given the opportunity, it'll cause a fuck load of irreversible damage.
When "Marty" says the "uninitiated", he means those with deductive reasoning skills and the literate. Luckily being a med-student I have the privilege of _some_ medical knowledge, along with plausible deniability, due to the infancy of my studies.
A certain cynical fictional doctor can some my thoughts about "Marty's" post best "Hang up a shingle, and condemn the narrowness and greed of western medicine, and you'll make a damned fine living. Of course no harm no foul, it's just taking a few bucks from superstitious idiots, right? Except the six months that [our patient] had with these charlatans might have been better spent going to someone who looks at things that exist in the real word. But that's just me being all narrow again..."
To Marty's second post, and quantification of his arguments, let me pre-emptily respond to the obligatory "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"
As someone who is aspiring to be a physician, a profession whom holds the life and health of their patients above all else, it's a responsibility to aide those in making the right decisions about their health. I think and feel that through my studies, and the studies of my peers, we have thoroughly proven that cancer is the manifestation of damaged and mutated DNA in cells. Healthy humans are not born WITH cancer (they can be born with predispositions that can make them susceptible to cancer) but that's not the same as saying EVERYONE has cancer. That's simply a load of bull. A cancerous cell has both the mutated DNA, and the accelerated growth rate that creates tumors. Without both of these mutations, the cell is killed by the immune system, and is not considered cancerous. The scenario of the only the latter mutation results in benign tumors (read: non-cancerous). I apologize if my attacks seem to come on strong, be medaling with people's health without qualification is very, very dangerous (and illegal in most countries).
And if the article at hand proves anything, it's that hymns and herbs do not cure cancer. It didn't for Steve, it won't for you, and it is designed to prey on the desperate and needy who are only trying to come to grips with a grim and regretful fate. It takes doctors with an educated mind, a detached personality, and a damned steady hand...
Since we're talking about a medical degree and license, I think its ironic how "Brandon" is crying about my apparent lack of qualifications when he himself has none. Being a half-doctor doesn't count, buddy. And a pissy one at that. I'd recommend you get some sleep and take some B-vitamins :)
I freely admit and recognize that I've yet to attain my M.D., however my qualifications of a bachelors degree in Biology with a specialty in medical studies should account for more than a thousand hours of reading Wikipedia, right?
Better yet, let's use your estimate of the high range of 4,000 hours of "education" in herbs. That equates to about 332 days of study (with a generous 12 hours/day). That's about 3 years of University. By your own calculations, I've got at least 3 years of formal education on you. (1 year in University & two in med-school).
To anyone that may be worried about their health, please go see a real doctor.
Evidence-based medicine, gained through the use of the scientific method, played a big part multiplying life expectancy the last 150 years.
You can't pray away a tumor.
You're a jackass, leave it to the professionals. I don't care what kind of hokery you're convinced of the massive drops in cancer mortality rates and subsequent increase in life expectancy is thanks to modern medicine and dedicated physicians.
Putting your faith in pseudo-science and new-age bunkum, when you have a terminal illness, will lead to a slow and painful death.
tapper,
to that I say, 150 years of 1-dimensional medical science is paltry put next to 5000+ years of 'tried and tested' accupuncture/pressure (among many other treatments and discoveries of the human mind and body).
@bob,
I really hope you're joking.
Bring back the bloodletting!
If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it does it make a sound? If all of you would just ignore this fruitcake he would stop talking. It's no fun to rant when nobody replies.
Kris Carr (the crazysexycancer.com woman) has a cancer of the liver, not her spine. She did not "beat" it with holistic medicine, she radically changed her diet and lifestyle in tandem with traditional medicine. She goes to an oncologist while at the same time employing natural therapies like boosting her immune system through diet and exercise. She and her husband are very cool and genuine people and you do her a disservice by misrepresenting her.
funny this isn't even on tuaw....so engadget is reporting more apple fanboy news than a blog that's supposed to be about fanboy news....wow
I know Jobs is stubborn, but this is just Denial. He's really quite lucky.
You'd think someone like Jobs would have more sense than to use quackery to cure a serious illness. But apparently not. I'm sure the surgery would be scary but the alternative was far worse.
What the hell? What was he thinking? Who DOES that? ... Steve Jobs I guess.
Man...
I'm confused, I read somewhere (can't recall right now) that when he found out he had cancer, he was told he had 6 months to live and he believed it, since pancreatic cancer is 95% fatal. The same night he found out, he went back to the doctor who inserted whatever into him and the doctor discovered he had the treatable kind of pancreatic cancer, and he had surgery soon thereafter and was cured.
The story mentioned nothing of a 9 month in-between, which surely would have been obvious from some very simple research. Of course, reporters aren't exactly known for doing good researhc, but still.. confusing...
Had pancreatic cancer and ignored it for 9 months?
Bull$hit.
My router doesn't have gigabit wifi. Tell me if you find one that does.
Stupid as it is...this problem is all too common. Especially amongst men, people just don't like to go get treatment until the last possible minute, often when it's too late.
Jobs got pretty lucky on this, although of course cancer is one of those things where you never really know if it'll be back.
Die and take Crapintosh with you.
Even on cancer Jobs "thinks differently".Holistic crap!Well....that would cost his life for thinking differently.
Anyone besides me fnid it very scary that a (supposedly) well educated guy tried to cure cancer via some holistic treatmet? if he's running Apple using some of the same alternative stuff, their stocks should fall...
imagine a company using tarot cards to choose future products... *sigh*
steve is the new chuck norris
There are many types of pancreatic cancer. The most common type of pancreatic cancer is adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Despite surgery, many patients with this type of pancreatic cancers will unfortunately die. Steve Jobs announced back in 2004 that he in fact did not have adenocarcinoma of the pancreas; he had islet cell neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas. It is a very treatable form of pancreatic cancer. I'm not suggesting that I would have waited 9 months to have it treat, but after the removal of islet cell tumor, the prognosis is very good.
So-called holistic "remedies" and other "alternatives" to medicine are alternatives for a reason. They don't work. Don't end up like Coretta Scott King and so many others dying in some quack clinic. If you have a health problem, go to a REAL DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY.
I thought he was a Leo.
Woah, I'm surprised he lasted so long. Pancreatic cancer is vicious. It can take someone life very quickly. I'm glad he finally went in for treatment.
Overhead Steve chanting, "iCure myself for 9 months" and realize hey, it's not working.
Wow. I was aware that it was pancreatic and similarly surprised that he recovered so well, but knowing that he waited 9 months before treatment is downright amazing. He got really lucky.
Steve, next time, seek treatment.
did you see that Patrick Swayze is about to die from pancreatic cancer?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335210,00.html
It must have been the Iphone's radiation when in development (I know it was not in development in '04, but the Rokr must have been, maybe it was that??)
This incident with El Steveo brings up two questions:
1) Judgement
Or rather lack of judgement. Then again it's a personal decision. To me you either are going to seek treatment or not. Delaying treatment is bad. Shows lack of solid decision capabilities. And if you've got an aggressive cancer like this, nothing precludes you from doing both approaches to some degree.
2) Breach of fiduciary responsibility
As an executive that high up, his health can and does materially impact stock price and the organization. There is a duty to disclose impairing health issues. To the board of directors at a minimum. Failure to disclose is a pretty serious thing.
Holy Crap. This is some weird stuff. He hid CANCER? What possibly did he have to gain? To quote pretty much everyone, that's one stupid thing to do.
Did his friends/family not tell anyone???
(Probably got it testing the iCancer).
Steve Jobs was a bit foolish and lucky as well, However some of the comments made about him and his condition, Simply because he part of Apple, has been rather cold. I don't know how I would cope if I was told I had that form of cancer, let alone kept it quiet from most people. For him to manage that, shows a high level of mental strengh.
By the way how do we know he does not give money to charity. Where is the evidence?.