Boy, you know Jobs had the best medical care money could buy and it still didn't get him past 56

[NNN0LHI]

Life really is precious, isn't it?

Don

[KittyWampus]

1. let's be sure we all try to fulfill our potential, eh?

[justiceischeap]

2. Pancreatic cancer is tough to beat

his money bought him several years.

[maddezmom]

3. so right

:(

[teddy51]

4. With a cancer like he had, he was very lucky to live the length of time he did.

Having watched several family members with this type of cancer, I can only say that his passing for him and his family, had to be a relief.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Yes, it probably was. :^( I know it was when my MIL passed.

[DFW]

28. Pancreatic cancer took my father

It is a vicious, unforgiving disease, only letting the victim know it's there after it's almost
too late to do anything about it. At age 77, my father's idea of "retirement" was going into Washington
4 days a week instead of 5. When he was diagnosed, watching him wither away was torture not just for
him, but for all of us. I have posted his last column before on DU. It was one of the most inspirational
pieces he wrote.

One of the paragraphs in his column might be equally applied to Steve Jobs:

"Only time sets the parameters. Until the body gives out (for the spirit never will), then I will have to call it a life."

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. There are some things money can't buy.

[aquart]

7. Past.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Thank you. I knew something wasn't right there. Just couldn't put my finder on it

[Mz Pip]

8. Some things wikll kill you

no matter what you do.n He probably lasted a whole lot longer than most.

For what it's worth I don't think it will make a difference what kind of health care we have in this country; the very very rich will be able to buy that extra year. That's not going to change.

[teddy51]

13. With that kind of cancer, I don't think that I would have wanted his money

in order to prolong the pain that had to be with him 24/7.

[JI7]

9. i think he did live longer than most people who get pancreatic cancer

but he did have one of the worst kinds when it comes to survival

[Bake]

11. His was a pretty rare (1% of cases) slow-growing kind.

But nobody beats pancreatic cancer. He was the same age as me, 56.

Bake

[Dawgs]

16. My dad lasted 5-6 months after being diagnosed. He died 4 months ago.

Jobs was lucky to live as long as he did. Pancreatic cancer sucks.

[grasswire]

17. my mom lasted three months

exactly what the doctor predicted.

[iris27]

22. My grandmother lasted nine weeks, and that was with a round of chemotherapy to try and

slow its progress.

None of us knew (even her) at Christmas; I got the call from my mom shortly after I got back to college for spring classes in late January. She was gone before Easter (and Easter was fairly early that year).

She was 63.

[dkf]

12. A sobering thought indeed.

Some things are still beyond us. We need to do more.

[EFerrari]

14. He grew up less than a mile away from us in Silicon Valley.

You didn't have to be rich to grow up healthy there in those days. Our schools were great, there were public health nurses that visited new mothers at home. Full time nurses at school, and psychologists, too. The water was good out of the tap and you could buy a lot of food locally. We had PE at school every day and after school sports didn't cost anything so everyone could play.

[Poll_Blind]

15. There's a reason he received his liver transplant in Memphis when he lived in California.

Being a billionaire opens doors in so many ways.

Yet even then...no guarantees.

PB

[REP]

25. Same reason I will be multiple-listed when I neec a kidney tx - I have a very rare blood type

Will I give a shit that anyone here says I'm "gaming the system" when I'm on multiple lists?

You don't have to be a billionaire to be on multiple lists. You can be like me and plan ahead, knowing that it's coming.

[Ezlivin]

18. Christopher Reeve didn't make it past 52

His medical care was costing $400,000 a year. The guy gave it his all; he undertook experimental treatments to shoot for a breakthrough.

I distinctly recall him saying he'd be out of his wheelchair "in ten years."

In ten years he was dead.

But me and millions of other paralyzed people rooted like crazy for our Superman, even though the majority of us could never afford medical therapy like that.

RIP Steve Jobs.

[nolabear]

19. It is precious, and finite. As Warren Zevon said, "Enjoy every sandwich."

[msongs]

20. so much for an Apple a day nt

[Mz Pip]

21. Ruth Ginsberg had it

but it must have been caught really early since she seems to be doing okay.

I think it's one of these cancers that doesn't have any symptoms until it's too late. Then it's hell on wheels.

[Tom Ripley]

23. But that medical care got him to 56

[JNelson6563]

24. I thought of this too Don.

Imagine how long ago he would have died if he were some poor schmuck without money or insurance. I'm sure he did all he could to make the most of what time he could buy himself, as any of us would do.

As you say, life really is precious.

Julie

[Major Hogwash]

26. Life is a crap shoot. Sometimes people who drink like a fish live to be 90, others die before their

time.
My grandfather lived to be 90 and he lead one of the hardest lives I could imagine, as a Dust Bowl farmer in the 30s.
His nephew died when he was only 25 years old when the bi-plane crop duster he was flying crashed in the 30s.

Sometimes rich people live to a ripe old age.
J.R. Simplot lived to be 99 years old, and he was a billionaire at the time of his death.
But, it sort of irked all of the Mormons here in Idaho because J.R. was loud about being an atheist.
He had a really odd funeral service as a result.

And then are poor people who live to a ripe old age.
Like my grandmother, who outlived my grandfather, and died at 99 years of age.
Who did nothing but good all her life.
Never drank, never smoked, never danced.

[SmileyRose]

27. Nobody gets out alive.