He had surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004. My brother in law was diagnosed and died last year. If you have a gazillion dollars they can do surgery and save you?
Although the vast majority of pancreatic cancers are extremely lethal, there is a small percentage (5%, according to Wikipedia, for whatever that’s worth) that are a different kind and more amenable to treatment. Possibly Jobs lucked out and got one of the less aggressive cancers.
I’m sure if there were a sure-fire surgery available, someone would have paid for Patrick Swayze to have it, even though I’m sure he isn’t nearly as rich as Steve Jobs.
I’m sorry about your brother. My great uncle died of pancreatic cancer, too.
No, it’s not about money…look at Patrick Swayze, who unfortunately is clearly dying of the disease in spite of having enough money to get the best care possible. Pancreatic cancer is unfortunately a disease that is not curable in the vast, vast majority of people afflicted by it. Part of this is simply because most of the time it is asymptomatic until it has spread too far to be surgically curable and only a very few lucky people discover it in time.
Unfortunately, even in people who have the Whipple procedure (the surgical procedure for pancreatic cancer, which is also a very time-consuming and risky procedure with a low chance of cure in the end - so for many people it’s just adding the misery of enduring a tough operation for no real benefit), the odds are that the cancer will end up coming back at some point. Supposedly Steve Jobs had an unusual form of the disease that is not as aggressive as the most common kind, which is why he was a candidate for surgery (there is no point in trying to do surgery if the cancer has already spread throughout the body, and even when it appears to be confined to the pancreas it is commonly spreading on a microscopic level). However, since he is talking about taking a leave of absence over “health” issues, it would not surprise me at all if it turns out that his cancer has recurred in spite of the surgery.
I knew a woman who had the “lucky” kind, and one of the things she said was that if you were predisposed to get it, even if the surgery was 100% successful and all the cancer was removed, there was a good chance (30% or so) that it would reoccur in a new spot. Now, I heard that from a patient, not a doctor, so it might have gotten garbled in the retelling.
Thanks, Lavenderviolet.
Reportedly, Steve has an atypical form of pancreatic cancer. He says it’s an “islet cell neuroendocrine tumor” which, he went on to say, is less deadly and rather rare. Supposedly that particular type can be controlled by surgery but I’m not a doctor so what do I know.
I hope Steve Jobs recovers. It’s not an exaggeration to say the strength of his vision has improved the entire computer industry.
One of the things Swayze mentioned in his interview with Barbara Walters the other night is that when he was initially diagnosed, it was already in his liver. Definitely not the news you want to hear.
Jesus. My Mother had gut pain on a Wednesday and I took her to the emergency room where they found an eighty year old woman had “objects in her liver” and put her in the hospital. Friday she was talking to people who weren’t there; Saturday she was afraid of people who weren’t there. (Mama, I swear to God nobody is here but you and me) Sunday morning she was in coma and died in the afternoon.
Yeah, cancer in the liver is Not Good…never heard it come out with a happy ending. Frankly, after hearing that, I’m surprised the guy has lasted as long has he has…and the most optimisitc he could be in the interview was that he’d live for 5 more years…he was being realistic enough not to say “I’m going to beat this thing.” I feel really, really bad for him.
Being wealthy does confer some advantages when it comes to things like cancer. Jobs most likely has pretty detailed annual physicals as a condition of him being CEO, and no doubt was getting them before he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they included things like a CT or MRI scan, and catching any cancer early, greatly improves one’s survivability chances.
Money also allows you to restructure your life so that you’re better able to take care of your health while you’re undergoing treatment.
Of course, some people just naturally respond to treatment better than others, for whatever reason. My step-brother’s FIL was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and he managed to hang on for a surprisingly long number of years. For a while, he was doing so well in treatment that he was able to lead a completely normal life.
Now might be a good time for apple to come out with iBequeath.
Michael Landon had money and still died very quickly from pancreatic cancer.
Good points, Tuckerfan.
My Grandmother’s best Friend has thus far beaten liver cancer. She had a state of the art procedure done at Northwestern in Chicago that removed more than 2/3 of her liver, the maximum amount that can be removed, as I understand it. It took more than 6 weeks for it to regenerate, cancer free. From all accounts she’s doing really well now. This was less than a year ago, so I don’t have long term data to share with you. Had she gone to any other hospital or doctor, she probably would have died. But, she was sent to the doctor who developed this procedure.
Wow! Good for her, and all good thoughts that she continues doing well.
I wonder if there’s a difference between cancer that originated in the liver, vs. cancer that spread there, in terms of how lethal it is. I have no idea, I’m only speculating, because the cases I’ve heard where the person takes a swift downturn is always where it spread there.
It was my understanding that cancer never begins in the liver, but spreads from somewhere else.
There are two types of pancreatic cancer, adenocarcinoma and islet cell neuroendrocine cancer. 95% of pancreatic cancer patients, including Swayze, have adenocarcinoma which is a death sentence in most cases and operable only if it is caught VERY early. This is usually “luck” in that the cancer that is caught early is usually located somewhere in the pancreas (like near a duct) where it causes problems when it is very small. Otherwise it is hard to detect and progresses rapidly, when my SO went to the doctor in March 2004 to be checked for cancer he had all the imaging tests and came back clean, in June when he was tested again after further symptoms he was inoperable and died 10 months later.
Some people respond better to the available treatments than others and manage to go in and out of remission with chemo and often last years.
When my friend was diagnosed money was NOT an issue with us, plus we had a friend that was an oncologist and several wealthy clients ( they kind whose names are on hospital wings) called us because they wanted to make sure he had the BEST care and doctors possible. But the sad truth was that an improved prognosis just could not be purchased and once he finished researching he decided to accept it and not blow his savings and remortgage the house in a futile pursuit.
Swayze is very right, if anyone says they can cure pancreatic adenocarcinoma they are lying. I have also noticed and it has been a peeve of mine that many organizations ( quacks and legit support organizations and legit pharm companies) use the survivor stories from neuroendrocrine patients ( who have a good prognosis for a long life after diagnosis) without making the distinction of the type of cancer.
Luciano Pavorotti died despite his millions.
It sometimes does.
Primary liver cancer is not among the most common cancers but it happens. The prognosis is very poor, almost as poor as that of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
He looks very ill. What a shame. He was on my list.
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