Anyway, I hope Steve does well because he’s worked his butt off and dumped much of his life into this company. I expect there’d be tons of similar news if Bill Gates came down with a major illness as well, though I doubt it’d have as much of a direct impact on Microsoft’s stock as Steve’s health has on Apple’s.

But I will always remember Steve as someone who not only saved Apple hardware but led the company in making the right choices in its OS and beyond. Really an amazing story.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/05sjletter.html

January 5, 2009

Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

I learned more than ever wanted to know about pancreatic cancer when my father was diagnosed with it. He subsequently died of it, but he had the common form of the disease. Jobs was diagnosed with the rarer form — the kind that is actually treatable with a reasonable expectation of success — and there seems to be relatively little reason to doubt his long-term survival.

That being said, I agree that it makes sense for Apple to have a transition plan in place. Even assuming that Jobs’ health is not a serious issue, it is true that he probably needs a bit more routine maintenance than most people. And with the added burden of running Pixar, it seems only logical that he should ease up on his involvement in Apple as he gets older. Deputing Phil Schiller to handle the MacWorld circus is a logical step in that regard.