Sympathetic article (eulogy) by Steve Jobs' sister

[Ombligo]

I can only hope that my eulogy is a fraction as beautiful.

[vicrock]

I should not have read that while sitting here in the airport - too many tears.

[guitarist]

This is a wonderful essay, I've emailed it to friends. Thanks for sharing the link.

Jimmypoo wrote:
Reading that just makes me all the more angry at such a smart man - deciding to delay the very surgery
that would have him here today, instead of gone today. Those around him deserved that far more than
the rest of us, who merely idolize from afar.

It could serve as the biggest blow to the falsehoods peddled by Alternative health advocates, fake cures, junk science, some methods honest but misguided, others outright dishonest, and opportunistic (a $3 billion dollar industry) "Alternative" medicine has claimed the lives of countless seekers. Even smart people can be misled, and take risks that are costly. In grave health situations, beliefs in Alternative medicine can be deadly. it's tragic.

A lot of people are upset about it. Jobs regretted his delay, the magical thinking, the denial. I can only hope that it sparks an awareness about the benefits of science-based, reality-based modern medicine. Particularly in matters of life and death. We're fortunate to live in a time when advances in modern medicine can save lives, and help manage complex illnesses. I imagine many of us here are alive today (myself included) because we live in 2011, instead of 1951.

Jobs had a lot of dignity and insight, in those final years. I only wish here were still here to enjoy his family, and friends, in the unfolding 21st century.

[Bill in NC]

IIRC, median survival 5-6 years, he got 8.

Much better than 'traditional' pancreatic cancer, but having the surgery earlier doesn't necessarily extend the above (could already have spread to the liver)

Jobs already had intestinal issues so severe he had to have multiple abdominal scans to figure out what was the problem.

"...it's unlikely that a mere nine months took Jobs 'from the high end to the low end of the survival rate,' as Dunning puts it.

That's just not how insulinomas usually behave from a biological standpoint.

They're too indolent, and that's not even taking into account issues of lead time bias and other confounding factors that would make comparisons of operating early versus operating later not as straightforward as one might think."

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/1...nd_alt.php

Jimmypoo wrote:
Reading that just makes me all the more angry at such a smart man - deciding to delay the very surgery
that would have him here today, instead of gone today. Those around him deserved that far more than
the rest of us, who merely idolize from afar.

[cbelt3]

That was... gorgeous. A eulogy is so difficult...

I only vaguely remember the eulogy I delivered for my father. It was a loving family's memories, of him playing a guitar while we all sang folk songs in a tent, in the rain, in the mountains that he loved.... things like that.... The best memories are of the heart.

[SteveO]

Beautiful. I happened across it on my own and then came here to post it, stf, and voila. Beautiful and touching.