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Apple CEO Steve Jobs joins Schwarzenegger to push organ donor registry
By Lisa M. Krieger
Posted: 03/19/2010 01:04:42 PM PDT
Updated: 03/19/2010 07:16:17 PM PDT
Inspired by his brush with death last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Friday made a surprise appearance at Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital to describe how a liver transplant saved his life — and why patients with less wealth and fame should have the same opportunities.
"I was almost one of the ones that died waiting for a liver in California last year," said Jobs, whippet-thin but healthy, in a brief event with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to unveil a new legislative effort to greatly expand the number of California organ donors.
In his first public description of his much-rumored but long-secret crisis, Jobs said "there were simply not enough livers in California to go around and my doctors here advised me to enroll in a transplant program in Memphis, where the supply-demand ratio of livers is more favorable than it is in California."
"I was very fortunate," the notoriously private Apple icon shared with an audience of doctors, transplant patients and media. A Tennessee donor was a "match" — and Jobs had a jet available to rush cross-country within the four-hour "window" needed for successful surgery. "Many others died waiting to receive one."
Moved by his good fortune and quick access to an organ, Jobs shared his story last year with California First Lady Maria Shriver at a Christmas event, then started discussing ideas with Schwarzenegger to broaden California's organ donor program. The governor's office drafted legislation, which is being sponsored by State Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose).
The number of available California organs has declined in recent years, so the demand for organs far outstrips their supply — a consequence of helmet laws and drunk-driving crackdowns that have reduced auto and motorcycle deaths.
In contrast, the Memphis-based Methodist University Hospital, where Jobs had surgery, has one of the shortest waiting times of any liver transplant center in the country, according to a transplant registry.
REVEALED: Here Are The Tech
Sites Steve Jobs Reads
On His iPad
What are Steve Jobs' favorite tech sites?
Well, he has Engadget, Gizmodo, the New York Times tech section, and the Wall Street Journal bookmarked in Safari on his iPad, according to a source who saw him demo it.
