Report: Steve Jobs Is Recovering From Liver Transplant, Still Coming Back to Apple
by Peter Kafka
Posted on June 19, 2009 at 9:02 PM PT
The Steve Jobs health story takes yet another twist, this time a happier one: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Apple CEO underwent a liver transplant earlier this spring and is recovering from the operation.
Jobs, who stepped away from day-to-day management of his company in January, is still expected to return to work later this month, the Journal said.
The transplant, which the Journal says Jobs received “about two months ago,” may be related to a form of pancreatic cancer that the Apple (AAPL) CEO has been living with since 2003. In 2005, Jobs declared that he was “fine,” but the state of his health, or lack thereof, has been the subject of recurring speculation for years.
That reached a fever pitch during the past 12 months, spurred on by his unusually gaunt appearance at Apple’s 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple officials originally said Jobs was suffering from a “common bug.”
In January, following Jobs’s announcement that he was receiving treatment for a “nutritional problem” stemming from a hormonal imbalance, Bloomberg reported that he was considering a liver transplant.
Jobs’s response: “Why don’t you guys leave me alone–why is this important?”
The Journal says that Jobs, who was supposed to come back to work full-time by the end of this month, may ease into the role and that COO Tim Cook, who has been running the company day to day in his absence, may get more responsibility.
But the paper also says Jobs has been back to the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters:
“During his leave, Mr. Jobs has remained involved in key aspects of the company and reviewed products and product plans from home. He has also been seen at Apple’s headquarters, according to people who have seen him there.”
Comments
Lucky for Steve, his new liver can now send and receive MMS, features search, cut, paste and copy as well as a landscape keyboard for text and email messages.
Posted by Eric Tipton at June 19th, 2009 at 10:51 pmNo liver transplant recipient deserves to have jokes made about them. First, liver transplants are the most complicated organ transplant surgery, taking nine hours or longer, and are, of course, life threatening. Second, never forget that someone else died so that Steve Jobs could continue to live, hopefully a healthy, productive and long life. His health will also forever be compromised because his immune system is weakened to prevent his body from rejecting the donor organ. Rejection is always a possibility, which would mean another transplant operation and recovery.
I say, good for him that he has a new chance at living a full life. I write this as someone whose 75-year-old mother is living seven years now with a donated liver. Best wishes to Steve Jobs for a speedy recovery and a return to doing whatever it is that he chooses to do with his life. He’s already earned it.
Posted by Scott Kaye at June 19th, 2009 at 11:37 pm“WSJ, please start filtering comments. Tipton’s above is unacceptable. Thanks.”
Posted by Bill Paci at June 20th, 2009 at 12:44 amHuh?
Solo 500, YOU must be joking. I had a liver transplant (courtesy of the VA — I love my “socialized Medicine!) and I laugh every time I take my Tacrolimus.
You go, Tipton!
Notice the timing of story.
1. On a Friday so it carries into the weekend dead zone and dies before business Monday.
2. Immediately after the release of the new iPhone so that story of lust will overwhelm the Steve story.
Steve Jobs is the master manipulator of the press. Good for him.
Posted by Dave Barnes at June 20th, 2009 at 8:09 amScott Kaye said
“Second, never forget that someone else died so that Steve Jobs could continue to live, hopefully a healthy, productive and long life.”
This is sad news indeed! When was the living donor program ended? And it has been doing so well since livers grow back to replace the donated lobes. Most unfortunate.
Posted by Charles Springer at June 20th, 2009 at 10:41 amEverything deserves to be laughed at. Especially terrible things. It makes them less terrible. Hope the best for Steve.
Posted by Bjorn Tipling at June 20th, 2009 at 12:15 pmCharles Springer wrote:
“This is sad news indeed! When was the living donor program ended? And it has been doing so well since livers grow back to replace the donated lobes. Most unfortunate.”
You are right, Charles. I forgot that Jobs may have received his liver from a living donor. I assumed that it was a cadaver donor. So far as I know, the living donor option is still available, although not without risk for the donor as well as the recipient. There was a tragic case of a man being a living donor for his brother; the donor ended up dying from the procedure while the recipient lived.
While rare, other living donors have had some loss of limb function and other lifelong ‘complications’ from the dissection of their liver.
As for “Everything deserves to be laughed at,” while true, it is also axiomatic that one can make a joke about anything, but someone, somewhere, will be offended.
Posted by Scott Kaye at June 20th, 2009 at 10:58 pm