Filed under: Steve Jobs, Apple
Send an audio get-well card to Steve
We'll have more coverage and reactions tomorrow to Apple's announcement this afternoon of Steve Jobs' leave of absence while he tends to his health. While we may have different takes on what the news means for Apple's immediate and long-term prospects, I believe we can all join in wishing Steve a full and speedy recuperation. I'm sure we also all send Tim Cook our hopes for Apple's continued success.To that end, TUAW wants to give you a voice as part of our audio get-well card to Steve. You can call in your message to our voicemail hotline at (917) 512-7398 x41469, or record it yourself and upload the MP3 or AAC file to our dropbox at http://tr.im/getwell -- we'll edit the messages together for next week's podcast. Be sure to identify yourself on the call.
If you want to do a photo or illustrated card, you can upload it to the same dropbox, or simply tag it with 'tuaw' on Flickr to add it to our pool, and we'll highlight the best in a gallery later this week.
If you're blogging your thoughts on today's announcement and Steve's health as it relates to Apple, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)


Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
David said 8:40PM on 1-14-2009
Jeez! Can folks just leave the guy alone for once?!
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S. Kurtz said 8:42PM on 1-14-2009
Let's hope he's okay.
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John T said 8:44PM on 1-14-2009
I just wrote my thoughts on Steve's stepping down on my website:
http://www.johnthrasher.net
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tim said 8:50PM on 1-14-2009
I did a quick write-up on Steve myself.
http://www.timwasson.com/blog/Say_it_aint_so_Steve..html
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Doc Rock said 9:23PM on 1-14-2009
Both as an ex-employee and as a true mac fan I hope the "Steve" has a fast recovery for his health sake. I hope this teaches the Mac and Media community a lesson about being so selfish when covering his health over the last few months. It was never our business and still is not; however, as people fans of Apple Inc. or not we all can appreciate human life and send some of our support.
Honestly I would be sympathetic even if it were GWBush feeling ill right now and most of us are no longer his fans. Big or Small people are people and all deserve respect and caring. Ok no more soapboxing.
Please get better Steve and much Aloha from Hawaii.
Doc
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timepilot84 said 9:37PM on 1-14-2009
Yeah, the health of key employees should have nothing to do with the success of a company. What are you smoking out there in the islands, Doc?
Doc Rock said 9:48PM on 1-14-2009
It has everything to do with the success of the company but the point is not to be selfish and thinking of what products we will lose or if the company will standfast. Right now this first few weeks it should just be pure respect and best wishes for a guy who has given us all something. It is just all about so respect where it is truly due.
Just think there would be no TUAW without the A.
We all owe Steve some respect.
TM said 9:36PM on 1-14-2009
Thanks Steve for costing me a bundle! Get well so the stock price will go up.
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Dan said 9:57PM on 1-14-2009
Hmm send a get well 'card' to a ceo? How about all those injured soldiers that are fighting for our country. Great priorities guys
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John-Super-God said 1:50AM on 1-15-2009
Because all the soldiers have done sooo much good over the past couple years right? Way better than revolutionizing the entire world as we know it. Go get 'em tiger, send that letter to your favorite troop! Hope he realizes he made a big difference in the world.
Bill said 11:41AM on 1-17-2009
Is it suddenly not possible to have sympathy for two things at once? Must a person choose between supporting the fight against cancer and homelessness?
Droplet said 10:01PM on 1-14-2009
How nice to see a post just plain worried about the man's health. Good onya.
Listen. Apple will be fine without Steve.
Steve, for your comfort as a human being take care of yourself, not your computer company. You're the most important hardware in your life.
Yes, that's so corny it itches, but I mean it.
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Schell said 10:13PM on 1-14-2009
I find this in bad taste.
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iBearTouch said 10:59PM on 1-14-2009
yeah I agree...
Every time I see talk about stocks, trading, and the state of the company, in this thread, I think that humankind is one step closer to insanity.
TalkTurkey said 11:01PM on 1-14-2009
From his commencement speech at Stanford back in 2005, when touching on the subject of death... "If you live each day as if it was your last; someday you'll most certainly be right ... Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose ... No one wants to die; even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there ... Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."
http://www.talkturkey.us/2009/01/apple-loses-jobs.html
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Joseph said 11:05PM on 1-14-2009
We've written something about Jobs' over at Touch Podium:
http://www.touchpodium.com/2009/01/14/mr-jobs-leaves-apple-inc-well-at-least-until-the-summer/
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The IT Nerd said 11:06PM on 1-14-2009
http://itnerd.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/steve-jobs-to-take-medical-leave-of-absence-the-fanbois-will-freak-over-this/
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steve murrah said 2:07AM on 1-15-2009
http://renalcarcinoid.blogspot.com/
Write this article on my blog Jan 5th when i first heard the new news....I sent it to all the emails I had....doubt he read it but it would be great if he is doing this for himself and his family!
Steve Jobs Article- he has Neuroendorcrine Islet Cell Carcinoma....a distant and related relative to my monster! OPEN LETTER TO STEVE FROM STEVE!
I am writing this note based on a recent article I ran into from AP...I will post the highlights:
Subject: Re: [CARCINOID] Steve Jobs according to Associated Press has a
Hormone Imbalance
"This weekend I underwent a successful surgery to remove a cancerous
tumor from my pancreas," Jobs wrote in an email first reported by
Reuters. "I had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet
cell neuroendocrine tumor, which represents about 1% of the total cases
of pancreatic cancer diagnosed each year, and can be cured by surgical
removal if diagnosed in time (mine was)."
Jobs noted that he did not have adenocarcinoma, a more common form of
pancreatic cancer that isn't currently curable and "carries a life
expectancy of around one year after diagnosis."
"I mention this because when one hears 'pancreatic cancer' (or Googles
it), one immediately encounters this far more common and deadly form,
which, thank God, is not what I had," Jobs wrote.
Note to Steve!
Steve, if you are reading my blog :) (then you;re in trouble because, PC sales have really slowed down!:), we are praying for you! and know that you will be battling this disease with all your might and resources! AND IF ANYONE IS GOING TO FIGHT THIS MONSTER, YOU WILL, AND YOU WILL WIN!
But I am also writing an open letter to you, if I may be so blunt, for you to please consider your priorities and focus in this important time in your life:
I understand the concern relative to talking about your disease openly--the worry re:your company, the stock price, and future, etc,. But Steve, keep in mind, the important things in life, as someone who started to put them together a but too late, the truely important parts of your life will be your family, your health, and your loved ones and the life you will be remembered you left.....
Apple Computer Company, and those amazing IPODS (I dont have one sorry), PC's and anything else your company makes, continues to deliver best in class and it will continue to deliver for many many many years to come. The organization you set up, AFTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND, should be much better able to meet and deliver on requirements without your brillant watchful eye which you have done for so many years!
I know the name "Steve Jobs" is a "mantra" in IT/Tech circles, BUT, I BELIEVE YOU STEVE, SHOULD ENSURE YOU KEEP YOURSELF IN MIND,GETTING YOURSELF 100% BETTER, FULL TIME.
I have seen and experienced it first hand, with my job, which ibn no way compares to yours, but in the end, made me focus on the wrong things, put a lot of added stress in my life, and I ended up perhaps not delivering at the capacity I would have without this issue (case in point, once I tired to lead a global telephone conference meeting, while in the hospital in Houston, IV in one arm, blood being removed from the other, preping for a CAT scan, all the while with telephone in ear and Pc in lab (IBM I am sorry to admit!) Net, I didn't do a very good job at any of it.....but I continued to work and perform for 6 years after my diagnosis-- 3 operations including removal of kidney, 2 experimental treatments (including current) and many new doctors visits and treatmenmt seaches!
I finally got to the "end point" when I was told I had "about a year to live ibn August 2007, and started, thank god, on a new medication, which stablized my tumors again! All fo this however, started making me realize, belately so, that I was not doing the right thing, for a lot of reasons, by continuing to work, not focusing on my health and family as I should have been, much earlier in my disease.
Apple is one of the most innovative and better IT and tech companies around. My belief is that you, Steve Jobs, can, and deserve to focus all your energy, intelligence, stamina, resources, with your family, in getting better, and knocking that disease out forever.
Finally, I am also writing to you on a selfish basis. I am dying from this damn cancer, slowly, but with time, this neuroendocrine tumor I am carrying will win its battle to end my life. You're disease is different, from what I read, so you may have it under control relative to your operation being curative. If so, I pray that is correct.
However, I am asking also you to consider something for the future with respect to this disease- NET TUMORS- and what you can do for the "rest of us".
You have the means, intelligence and ability to help fight this disease on a global scale. I am sure if you devoted some of your time and energy to finding a cure to neuroendocrine tumors "NET project"-- while you still have the will power, strength, energy, and time to devote, with your amazing creativity, it could be the "difference maker" in making NET tumors and its associated diseases, a curable disease in the future.
YOU CAN DO IT MR JOBS!
And much like you have transformed the lives of billions with breakthrough technology and products, when no one else could even dream about the possibilities, YOU CAN DO THE SAME WITH THIS DISEASE-- LEVERAGING YOUR LEADERSHIP, WEALTH, YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS AND NETWORK SUPPORT!
As I noted, I have a somewhat similar disease, neuroendorcine carcinoma, with the primary coming from the right kidney. It has now spread, and advanced to a point where its becoming very difficult to fight. Thank goodness to the new products, and help from MDAnderson Cancer Center, the NET tumor clinic and research there, and for Dr James Yao and his brilliant staff, that I am still alive today, with the disease stable. (lets not forget black raspberries Dr W!)
Nevertheless, I have had to leave my job of 26! years because of the effects of the disease and treatments bascially overnight. There was no retirement party, gifts or cards, I just left on a Monday and filed for disability. Not the way to leave something you have treasured and devoted the majority of your life and time with. That said, the people at PG are truely the best and care tremendously and with the upmost dedication. My PG workmates were the people that gave the most to my fund raiser! The best! As noted, I have decided that one way to "get back at this thing" is to devote my time and enegery to attempt to raise money to fight this disease, and try to one day hopefullty find a cure or a treatment so we can live with it without killing us so slowly, painfully and so costly.
There are wonderful organizations devoted to neuroendocrine research. Institutions such as THE CARING FOR CARCINOID, THE CARINOID FOUNDATION, CARCINOIDAWARNESS FOUNDATION, MD Anderson NET Tumor RESEARCH Clinic and the Neuroendocrine Tumor Program in New Orleans,, to name a few, whom together with some very brilliant staff and doctors, are trying their best, with very limited funding and support, to research, and work to ultimately find a cure for this disease
(BTW Steve, I wrote you for a contribution, to no avail, for my recent fund raiser walk a thon BUT JUST IN CASE, I AM still accepting contributions through THE END OF January 2009! just in case ..please see the FIRST GIVING TEMPLATE ABOVE)
STEVE, ONE DAY, WHEN YOU ARE READY,I HOPE YOU WILL FIND IT IN YOUR HEART TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS "SPACE". YOU HAVE WITHIN YOUR POWER, TO CHANGE THE WORLD AND POTENTIALLY RID THE WORLD OF NET CANCER FOREVER. AS YOU ONCE DID WITH TECHNOLOGY, BUT ARE NOW IN MUCH BETTER SHAPE (NO GARAGE START UPS THIS TIME), THAT YOU CAN USE YOUR POWER AND MEANS TO LEVERAGE IT IN THE MEDICAL FIELD, AND START A PROCESS AND AWARENESS TO FIND A FIGHT AND FIND A TREATMENT FOR THIS DISEASE CORE DISEASE-- NEUROENDOCRINE TUMORS-- NET TUMORS HAVE HAD ITS WAY FOR SO MANY YEARS AND RUINED SO MANY LIVES; HOWEVER,IT HAS NEVER RUN ACROSS A STEVE JOBS!
Just like in the 1980's when the time was right for the "computer revolution" which you in part LED and changed the world forever, please consider taking your own misfortune, and turning it into the "NET revolution".
Since ITS SUCH A RARE AND UNKNOWN DISEASE, IT HISTORICALLY RECEIVES VERY LITTLE FUNDING AND SUPPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT, AND INDIVIDUALS FOR MUCH NEEDED RESEARCH. This disease needs someone life yourself, with your legends of devoted followers and government contacts, to follow your lead, and change the "playing field" forever.
YOU CAN MAKE A MUCH GREATER DIFFERENCE THAN MY "WALK A THON" WILL EVER DO OVER THANKSGIVING, TO HELP US WIN THIS BATTLE.
PLEASE CONSIDER THIS LETTER AS AN OFFER TO HELP US...WITH THE FIRST STEP SIMPLY BEING TO RAISE AWARENESS WITH NEUROENDOCRINE TUMORS, AND IN RAISING MONEY TO HELP IN RESEARCH.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU, AND YOUR FAMILY!
From one of your many admirers! (and now connected by way of a similar out of control cellular growth)!
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rex said 3:52AM on 1-15-2009
i made this keynote and uploaded it to youtube for steve
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf5LHpgAGG4
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Unregistered said 5:49AM on 1-15-2009
It saddens me to see so many people posting their urls hoping to earn clicks and eyeballs. Let the guy be and leave him alone to recuperate.
If anyone is interested in reading your idle thoughts and prediction they will use a search engine.
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