5 ms·

> I was not aware he was ill. Always sad to hear people that are taken by cancer. It was pancreatic cancer, which is the deadliest cancer. It kills very quickl

by mcv 3y ago

> I was not aware he was ill. Always sad to hear people that are taken by cancer. It was pancreatic cancer, which is the deadliest cancer. It kills very quickly and as far as I know, it's impossible to cure. It killed my mom: 3 months between diagnosis and death. She didn't want treatment because it couldn't save her; it would only postpone the inevitable and she didn't want to spend the rest of her days in hospitals.

vmurthy 3y ago
:-(. Always sad to hear such news. Stay strong mate!
glimshe 3y ago
I'm sorry to hear about your mom. It's not impossible to cure, but it's very uncommon. I think that if it is caught early, only 10% of people eventually become disease-free.
jjkaczor 3y ago
It took my dad last year, diagnosis in April, gone by mid-June. It was so aggressive he chose "medical assistance in death" (MAID), because he didn't want to be in hospitals all-the-time. He had half-completed the process, then had a stroke on June 4th, where he was then admitted to hospital. The stroke cause aphasia, so he couldn't communicate very well (speech was very disjointed, but he could understand everyone) - they brough in a speech pathologist, after a couple weeks they we able to confirm that he still wanted 'MAID', so - I had to make the decision as to when. (And - I agreed, spending time in hospitals, fighting the inevitable was antithetic to his whole personality) Cleared by 2nd round of medical professionals to make the MAID decision on a Wednesday, so - we scheduled for Friday - he passed away naturally Thursday morning.
- nathancahill 3y ago
  Sorry for your loss.
- saary 3y ago
  Thank you for sharing, sorry for your loss.
- HannibalLecter 3y ago
  [dead]
puzzlingcaptcha 3y ago
Note that it really depends on the type of the pancreatic cancer. While pancreatic adenocarcinomas are some of the worst cancers out there (overall 5y survival of 8%), others like pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours have a fairly good prognosis. Famously, Steve Jobs sought alternative medicine solutions to the latter, which was probably misguided.
- j0hnyl 3y ago
  I'm not sure it's the alternative treatments that did him in... it was the AIDS that he kept a secret and was subsequently revealed by wikileaks.
  - loup-vaillant 3y ago
    Do you have a credible link? The quick search I did suggests the evidence was unreliable and likely forged.
    - j0hnyl 3y ago
      I'm only aware that documents were circulating saying that, but now that I'm searching around, I think the best details are here: https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs_purported_HIV_medical_status_results,_2008 https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs_purported_HIV_medical_... Conclusion is that the documents shouldn't be taken at face value... so maybe not? However, if he was HIV+ I can totally see why it would be covered up. I guess it's a big question mark, but it's not unbelievable.
      - asveikau 3y ago
        There are a lot of conspiracy theories about AIDS, and in the case like the death of Steve Jobs I guess this sort of rumor is bolstered by the fact that a lot of people hid their diagnosis due to stigma. Jobs was famously very focused on image. But I think most of that stigma was gone by 2010.
        3y ago
joshmanders 3y ago
A friend of mine survived it, I wouldn't wish pancreatic cancer on even my enemies. That stuff is tough. I do the Purple Stride with her every year to celebrate her battle. RIP Kevin, hearing your stories and the movie Hackers was a huge inspiration in me getting into what we do.
nemo44x 3y ago
A friend of mine who is a surgeon originally was learning to become a pancreatic cancer surgeon. She changed to GI because the mortality rate was just so high and so fast that it was extremely heartbreaking and depressing.
kjs3 3y ago
There is some reason to hope, tho regrettably too late for your family: https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreati https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreati... https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseas https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseas...
_whiteCaps_ 3y ago
My mom's situation was almost exactly the same. Our family has a history of cancer and it turned out she had the harmful BRCA2 variant. Were you offered any kind of genetic testing? https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/genetics/brca-fact-sheet https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/geneti...

by mcv 3y ago

vmurthy 3y ago

:-(. Always sad to hear such news. Stay strong mate!

glimshe 3y ago

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. It's not impossible to cure, but it's very uncommon. I think that if it is caught early, only 10% of people eventually become disease-free.

jjkaczor 3y ago

It took my dad last year, diagnosis in April, gone by mid-June. It was so aggressive he chose "medical assistance in death" (MAID), because he didn't want to be in hospitals all-the-time. He had half-completed the process, then had a stroke on June 4th, where he was then admitted to hospital. The stroke cause aphasia, so he couldn't communicate very well (speech was very disjointed, but he could understand everyone) - they brough in a speech pathologist, after a couple weeks they we able to confirm that he still wanted 'MAID', so - I had to make the decision as to when. (And - I agreed, spending time in hospitals, fighting the inevitable was antithetic to his whole personality) Cleared by 2nd round of medical professionals to make the MAID decision on a Wednesday, so - we scheduled for Friday - he passed away naturally Thursday morning.

nathancahill 3y ago
Sorry for your loss.
saary 3y ago
Thank you for sharing, sorry for your loss.
HannibalLecter 3y ago
[dead]

puzzlingcaptcha 3y ago

Note that it really depends on the type of the pancreatic cancer. While pancreatic adenocarcinomas are some of the worst cancers out there (overall 5y survival of 8%), others like pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours have a fairly good prognosis. Famously, Steve Jobs sought alternative medicine solutions to the latter, which was probably misguided.

j0hnyl 3y ago
I'm not sure it's the alternative treatments that did him in... it was the AIDS that he kept a secret and was subsequently revealed by wikileaks.
- loup-vaillant 3y ago
  Do you have a credible link? The quick search I did suggests the evidence was unreliable and likely forged.
  - j0hnyl 3y ago
    I'm only aware that documents were circulating saying that, but now that I'm searching around, I think the best details are here: https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs_purported_HIV_medical_status_results,_2008 https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs_purported_HIV_medical_... Conclusion is that the documents shouldn't be taken at face value... so maybe not? However, if he was HIV+ I can totally see why it would be covered up. I guess it's a big question mark, but it's not unbelievable.
    - asveikau 3y ago
      There are a lot of conspiracy theories about AIDS, and in the case like the death of Steve Jobs I guess this sort of rumor is bolstered by the fact that a lot of people hid their diagnosis due to stigma. Jobs was famously very focused on image. But I think most of that stigma was gone by 2010.
      - 3y ago

joshmanders 3y ago

A friend of mine survived it, I wouldn't wish pancreatic cancer on even my enemies. That stuff is tough. I do the Purple Stride with her every year to celebrate her battle. RIP Kevin, hearing your stories and the movie Hackers was a huge inspiration in me getting into what we do.

nemo44x 3y ago

A friend of mine who is a surgeon originally was learning to become a pancreatic cancer surgeon. She changed to GI because the mortality rate was just so high and so fast that it was extremely heartbreaking and depressing.

kjs3 3y ago

There is some reason to hope, tho regrettably too late for your family: https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreati https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreati... https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseas https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseas...

_whiteCaps_ 3y ago

My mom's situation was almost exactly the same. Our family has a history of cancer and it turned out she had the harmful BRCA2 variant. Were you offered any kind of genetic testing? https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/genetics/brca-fact-sheet https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/geneti...