The founder of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs, died last week after a seven-year struggle with pancreatic cancer.
He was one of the lucky ones.
Cancer of the pancreas is one of the deadliest cancers, and it usually claims its victims much quicker. Only 20 percent survive a year after being diagnosed, and only 4 percent live five years after a diagnosis.
Jobs had a more treatable type of pancreatic cancer than most -- a neuroendocrine tumor -- and had announced that he was cured after the tumor was surgically removed in 2004.
But it came back, and people were stunned when Jobs made public appearances in 2008 looking skeletal. A liver transplant was not successful in curing him of the disease.
Jobs announced at the beginning of the year that he was resigning as CEO of Apple. He left at the end of August and died on Wednesday.
About 44,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and about 38,000 will die from it.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.
Men are more likely to get pancreatic cancer than women, and blacks and those with diabetes are also at greater risk.
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