Matthew Holden

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today has been released by the Apple Board-of-Directors for a second leave of absence.

It doesn’t sound good. Steve Jobs (55) is to take a second leave of absence from Apple where he is CEO. Reports at this stage do not say why Jobs has taken this leave nor what his condition is.

Most pundits at this stage all refer to the release of the Apple iPad2 and iPhone 5 slated for release sometime in 2011. In an email to employees he said “”At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company”. Tom Cook will effectively run Apple in Jobs absence. Cook has assumed the helm of Apple previously and continued the company and was handsomely rewarded for his tenure and abilities.

Jobs’ email continues: “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy”.

We don’t know what form of cancer that Steve Jobs was diagnosed with. Pancreatic cancer can have either tumors that are benign or malignant. Benign tumors are not cancer. They do not spread to other parts of the body and are seldom a threat to life. Often, benign tumors can be removed by surgery, and they are not likely to return.

However, Malignant tumors are cancer. They invade and destroy nearby healthy tissues and organs. Cancer cells also can break away from the tumor and spread to other parts of the body.

Steve Jobs has endured pancreatic cancer since 2004 culminating in a liver transplant in 2009 and has had two years of extended life from this serious, invasive and aggressive cancer. Whilst the markets worry about iPad(s) let’s focus on the man.

Steve Jobs, his wife Laurene Powell and four children must all be going through the awful phases of “what-if”. For now, let’s not pontificate the “what-if” but hope that the man who has been a technological and business maverick survives another round; this time for much higher stakes than just an iPad.

Tags: Apple, buddism, Cancer, how to, ipad, ipod, motivation to survive, Pancreatic cancer, steve jobs, survivor, Technology, Zen Buddhist

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 2:40 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.