October 20, 2011 2:17 PM

Biographer: Jobs refused early and potentially life-saving surgery

(CBS News) 

Apple CEO Steve Jobs refused to allow surgeons to perform what could have been life-saving surgery on his pancreatic cancer, says his biographer Walter Isaacson. In one of his deepest discussions with him, Isaacson says Jobs told him he regretted his decision to try alternative therapies and said he put off the operation because it was too invasive.

Complete coverage: Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

Isaacson reveals these and many other inner thoughts of the man who entrusted him with the writing of his life story in the upcoming book, "Steve Jobs." The author talks to Steve Kroft in his first interview about Jobs, the late technology visionary whose innovative products like the Macintosh, iPhone and iPad changed the world. The interview will be broadcast on "60 Minutes," Sunday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"I've asked [Jobs why he didn't get an operation then] and he said, 'I didn't want my body to be opened...I didn't want to be violated in that way,'" Isaacson recalls. So he waited nine months, while his wife and others urged him to do it, before getting the operation, reveals Isaacson. Asked by Kroft how such an intelligent man could make such a seemingly stupid decision, Isaacson replies, "I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking...we talked about this a lot," he tells Kroft. "He wanted to talk about it, how he regretted it....I think he felt he should have been operated on sooner."

He finally had the surgery and told his employees about it, but played down the seriousness of his condition. Isaacson says he was receiving cancer treatments in secret even though he was telling everyone he was cured.

Isaacson conducted over 40 interviews with Jobs, some of them taped right before his death. The story Sunday will contain Jobs' own recorded words about some of the most important times of his life.

Isaacson reveals several of the best stories from the biography, including the fact that Jobs had actually met the man who turned out to be his biological father before he knew who he was. He also talks about the discussion he had with Jobs about death and the afterlife, explaining that for Jobs, the odds of there being a God were 50-50, but that he thought about the existence of God much more once he was diagnosed with cancer. Another aspect of Jobs' character revealed was his disdain for conspicuous consumption. He tells Isaacson in a taped conversation how he saw Apple staffers turn into "bizarro people" by the riches the Apple stock offering created. Isaacson says Jobs vowed never to let his wealth change him.

Disclosure: Walter Isaacson's biography "Steve Jobs" is published by Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS corporation.

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
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by infinitemkys October 21, 2011 5:14 PM EDT
Even if he had surgery it is very unlikely he would have survived much longer. I agree Islet cell less agressive. That is why he made it 5 years. Adenocarcinoma, 3-6 months. A year if very luckly.
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by revandspark October 21, 2011 4:41 PM EDT
His "disdain for conspicuous consumption" was such that he drove a simple workingman's Aston Martin.
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by nicmart October 21, 2011 5:05 PM EDT
I admire Jobs greatly, but a philosopher he was not. He spent his life promoting conspicuous consumption, about which I have no complaint.
by Thornflesh October 21, 2011 1:28 PM EDT
I pray he found jesus the Savior before his death.
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by stratabuse October 21, 2011 1:18 PM EDT
Are you kidding me the government gets 30% on his death for something they had nothing to do with, called inheritance tax. This is an abomination, the money is his heirs and the government should should not shake down his heirs to pay for worthless government sponsored welfare.
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by TruthInSpending October 21, 2011 12:51 PM EDT
It is so easy for others to say of the wealthy, "They could have done so much good with their money". The key word in that statement is "their".

It is their money. It is theirs, not yours, not mine. What they do with it is their business.

Far too many occupy themselves with what could be done with other people's money. They are compassionate with other people's money. They know best what to do with other people's money. They are smarter than the wealthy when it comes to what they should do with their money.

It's easy to be compassionate, when you are doing it on another's dime.

I heard on the news this morning that some of the OWS crowd in Boston was complaining that the homeless were taking some of the food that had been prepared for the protesters.

These protesters have Iphones, computers, expensive clothing, yet they resent the distribution of the food they think is theirs, to those who are less fortunate. Methinks it's called hypocrisy.
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by buntarpp October 21, 2011 12:43 PM EDT
Not to sound overly gloomy, but it's silly to treat this news that he declined surgery initially as some great tragedy. If he had gotten that surgery, he may have lived a few more years, sure. But he would have died from something else, just as we all do. He accomplished more than any of us will in the years he had, and he lived them the way he felt comfortable. He didn't want the surgery, and he didn't stop working his ass off in the mean time. He might have died a little sooner than what we selfishly consider to be "his time" but he wasn't going to live forever either way.
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by chevyhotrod October 21, 2011 3:38 PM EDT
I like you post, but "he may have lived a few more years", just think what else he could have given the world with just that.

I am a PC user, no iPhone, no iPad, no Mac, but he was an amazing individual and I hope he has found peace and many blessings to his family and friends.

"Nothing gold can stay"
by CTracks October 21, 2011 7:49 AM EDT
I was a manager at Xerox in the 60's and was one of the guides for the day at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center
In my group was a young man with long hair and sandals.
We passed by a Engineer who was researching Personal Computers and had a small wood box with a switch on it. Steve asked what was that for? The Enginer replied he could control items on his screen and move them around. Steve said he could use that.
So began the Mouse and Apple computer.


.
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by Htos1 October 21, 2011 2:46 PM EDT
I believe that was the "office of the future" display,summer 1975.
by AussieHealthWorker October 20, 2011 10:16 PM EDT
Lutate, or 177 Lutetium Octreotate is a known treatment for pancreatic adenocarcinomas and other Gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEPNETs) which has seen excellent success rates at shrinking tumours, and radically improving life quality and survival. Out of all GEPNETs Jobs' type, the pancreatic adenocarcinoma, responds best - especially if treated early. It serves to reduce the tumours allowing them to become operable when previously they weren't. Unfortunately, since these are slow growing tumours, many are not diagnosed early. This is not 'alternative', but IS exciting and new (the last 5-10yrs). RIP Steve Jobs.
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by Jaylah54 October 20, 2011 4:39 PM EDT
And Jobs never did let his wealth change him. He just kept accumulating it and accumulating it, when he could have done some pretty great things with it.
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by bobnjersey October 21, 2011 2:41 AM EDT
[ He just kept accumulating it and accumulating it, when he could have done some pretty great things with it.]
-----------------------------------------------
he did do some great things with it ... he developed products that helped people who had limitations w/ their ability to help themselves:

http://stoloff-law.com/blog/iphone-apps-that-help-people-with-disabilities-be-more-independent/

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/steve-jobs-disability/

http://www.silvercross.com/blog/general/15-iphone-apps-for-the-disabled/

http://www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision.html
by buntarpp October 21, 2011 12:45 PM EDT
"he did do some great things with it ... he developed products that helped people who had limitations w/ their ability to help themselves"

And as long as they bought an iPhone, he was more than willing to help.

I think the poster was talking more about using those multiple tens of billions for something charitable. Of course he's forgetting that wasn't really Steve's money, as Apple was a public company.
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by jh749 October 20, 2011 3:49 PM EDT
What is truely sad is that Jobs didn't have pancreatic cancer. He had an islet cell cancer that started in his pancreas. Although this distinction may sound trivial, it makes all the difference in the world.Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is a miserable disease that is almost always far advanced by the time it is found.It carries a 5-10%survival rate. Islet cell ca can be a much more benign actor and is completely curable if excised promptly. There is no treatment for either type of malignancy other than early surgery. Special diets and even chemo are withcraft with these tumors. Jobs got some poor advice somewhere along the line.
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