Steve Jobs (1955.-2011.)
Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, passed away on October 5, 2011 from a rare form of pancreatic cancer and left a lot of unanswered questions about his disease. However, in the last seven years since he had been receiving treatment, he hadn’t neglected his job in any ways. The company worked together to broaden the iPod product line, create the MacBook air laptop, create an online website, open app stores around the United States and introduce the iPhone and iPad. Through all this, Jobs managed to keep his personal life and disease under wraps.
What the public does know about Jobs’ disease is that seven years ago he underwent surgery to remove a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumor. In 2009, he also had a liver transplant, but it is unknown if this was related to his pancreatic cancer. According to Michaela Banck, a pancreatic cancer expert, each cancer case is different than the next and not everybody will get the same prognosis. This particular tumor affects the levels of insulin and other hormones produced by the pancreas. However, this rare form of pancreatic cancer is still undergoing research so that doctors can get a better understanding of it.
We do not know if Jobs took any medical drugs to fight his cancer, but two types of drugs are prescribed for this rare form of pancreatic cancer. Afinitor from Novartis and Sutent from Pfizer have been recently approved to treat the tumors related to this cancer. Since Jobs also had a liver transplant, the drugs taken to prevent rejection of the liver may have affected his cancer because they weaken the immune system.
Neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer is slow forming and treatable with surgery and even curable if caught early, unlike the more common form of pancreatic cancer which is more harmful and fast moving.