Request for Prayers
November 12, 2024
I am asking friends and well-wishers to pray for me.
I believe that group intention can actually make a difference.
On October first, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Because of vascular involvement, surgery is not possible. I am taking weekly chemo treatments to shrink the tumor before surgical resection. I am tolerating the chemo pretty well, and I am in good spirits. Every day I make a point of getting out in the sun and walking with Cai and Poppy.
I am receiving excellent care for my physical body from a team of doctors and nurses at Stanford and UCSF. I am also receiving several different modalities of holistic treatments for my emotional and spiritual health. The treatments are helping, and I am feeling much less pain now. I am even regaining a little of the weight that I lost.
From my Iboga experience seven years ago, I know for certain that my consciousness and memories will continue after I leave my physical body. I have no existential fear of death. Actually more anticipation and curiosity.
At 73 years, I have already lived an amazing and wonderful life. I have loved and been loved, beginning with my remarkable mother who believed in me. With my work at Apple and General Magic I am grateful that I could make positive contributions to the lives of many millions of people, and even affect the course of human evolution.
But I want more quality time to share life and experiences with Cai and with my friends and family. My bucket list is not filled with places to travel, but instead with quality time with those I love and those who love me.
I am living my life filled with gratitude. Each day is a special gift to be unwrapped, enjoyed, and cherished.
Thank you for praying for me.
Bill Atkinson
The best time in history to have cancer is now, and we need to make sure that statement continues to be true for every year yet to come. Having cancer is still some of the worst news an individual can hear. And it’s nigh but inevitable; we roll the dice every second.
A lot of the issue is the hush-hush manner we treat the subject with, IMO, and the “us vs. them” mentality with the “pharma industry”. I don’t think anybody should criticize Steve for his course of treatment, but the charlatans that led him down that path. For every Steve Jobs there are thousands of Steves with a similar story.
The story afaict is less charlatans and more Jobs' hubris and ignoring his doctors. He has a pretty long history of questionable health decisions from what I have read.
In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer. In mid 2004, he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is very poor; *Jobs stated that he had a rare, less aggressive type, known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.*
Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for medical intervention for nine months, in favor of alternative medicine. Other doctors agree that Jobs's diet was insufficient to address his disease. However, cancer researcher and alternative medicine critic David Gorski wrote that "it's impossible to know whether and by how much he might have decreased his chances of surviving his cancer through his flirtation with woo. My best guess was that Jobs probably only modestly decreased his chances of survival, if that." Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's integrative medicine department, on the other hand, said, "Jobs's faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life ... He had the only kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable ... He essentially committed suicide."
Did not know his was neuroendocrine. But still, something or somebody led him down that path (or rather, a multitude of someones and somethings, over who-knows-what timeframe). It's sad - not because it was Steve Jobs, but because it's an example of something that in aggregate would lead to substantially less suffering if people understood what was even possible.
I've known a few smart people that died of things that they could have had a high change of not dying from if they took proper action when they first found out. For instance, I've known 2 separate Christian Scientists with (different, treatable - often curable without so much as minor surgery) Stage I or II cancers, who ended up withering away for a few years before passing.
He committed suicide, but more importantly in my view is that he needlessly used a donated organ that could have gone to someone that actually needed it. A real hero that guy.
I should point out: pancreatic cancer is not a death sentence, but the prognosis is generally very bad. I lost my wife, who was half Bill's age, to the disease.
https://archive.is/9PJTq
Each time I see the words "Holistic" treatment I cringe
Steve Jobs also had pancreatic cancer.
Quincy Jones just died from pancreatic cancer.
The best time in history to have cancer is now, and we need to make sure that statement continues to be true for every year yet to come. Having cancer is still some of the worst news an individual can hear. And it’s nigh but inevitable; we roll the dice every second.
A lot of the issue is the hush-hush manner we treat the subject with, IMO, and the “us vs. them” mentality with the “pharma industry”. I don’t think anybody should criticize Steve for his course of treatment, but the charlatans that led him down that path. For every Steve Jobs there are thousands of Steves with a similar story.
5 year survival for pancreatic cancer is 12%
https://pancan.org/news/five-year-pancreatic-cancer-survival...
We are seeing some cancer breakthroughs but we’ve got a lot of work remaining
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-69006713.amp
The story afaict is less charlatans and more Jobs' hubris and ignoring his doctors. He has a pretty long history of questionable health decisions from what I have read.
In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer. In mid 2004, he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is very poor; *Jobs stated that he had a rare, less aggressive type, known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.*
Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for medical intervention for nine months, in favor of alternative medicine. Other doctors agree that Jobs's diet was insufficient to address his disease. However, cancer researcher and alternative medicine critic David Gorski wrote that "it's impossible to know whether and by how much he might have decreased his chances of surviving his cancer through his flirtation with woo. My best guess was that Jobs probably only modestly decreased his chances of survival, if that." Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's integrative medicine department, on the other hand, said, "Jobs's faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life ... He had the only kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable ... He essentially committed suicide."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs (under Health problems)
Did not know his was neuroendocrine. But still, something or somebody led him down that path (or rather, a multitude of someones and somethings, over who-knows-what timeframe). It's sad - not because it was Steve Jobs, but because it's an example of something that in aggregate would lead to substantially less suffering if people understood what was even possible.
I've known a few smart people that died of things that they could have had a high change of not dying from if they took proper action when they first found out. For instance, I've known 2 separate Christian Scientists with (different, treatable - often curable without so much as minor surgery) Stage I or II cancers, who ended up withering away for a few years before passing.
He committed suicide, but more importantly in my view is that he needlessly used a donated organ that could have gone to someone that actually needed it. A real hero that guy.
Doctors say you must listen to doctors or you'll die. Give your money to doctors if you want to live.
Jef Raskin also had pancreatic cancer.
All these people too. Hopefully someday we make an effort to cure it. We’ve made so little progress.
Randy Pausch - Last Lecture
Steve Jobs
Patrick Swayze
Sally Ride - astronaut
Piers Sellers - astronaut
Hans Rosling
Richard Hatch
Michael Landon
Bill Hicks - Comedian
Jef Raskin - Macintosh
Aretha Franklin
Luciano Pavarotti
Sharon Jones
Alan Rickman
Dizzy Gillespie
Benoit Mandelbrot
Wernher von Braun
Matt Bencke, former CEO of Mighty AI (bought by Uber in 2019).
He was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Trigger warning: https://www.wired.com/story/the-day-i-found-out-my-life-was-...
MacPaint, QuickDraw, Hypercard, Atkinson dithering... a true legend.
Bill Atkinson stories from foklore.org
https://folklore.org/Joining_Apple_Computer.html
https://folklore.org/I_Still_Remember_Regions.html
https://folklore.org/Negative_2000_Lines_Of_Code.html
https://folklore.org/Round_Rects_Are_Everywhere.html
https://folklore.org/Mythical_Man_Year.html
https://folklore.org/Busy_Being_Born.html
also
https://www.folklore.org/MacPaint_Evolution.html
I should point out: pancreatic cancer is not a death sentence, but the prognosis is generally very bad. I lost my wife, who was half Bill's age, to the disease.
Gallbladder, an adjacent organ, is very dangerous too. I lost my wife last year, at 52. She survived just nine months from diagnosis.
I’m sorry, my friend.
You as well. The first year is hard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Atkinson
Leo Reporte with Atkinson on Hypercard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdJKjBHCh18