As a group with several members who have dealt with serious and/or chronic illnesses including one who has had serious, extreme pancreatic surgery similar to Steve Jobs’ own procedure (his cancer may have been “treatable” but the surgery to do so is still dramatic and the details are enough to turn even tough guys a rather green shade of pale!)…..the Rumors site team has made a point not to fuel unproductive speculation about something that only Mr. Jobs himself could have genuine first-hand knowledge of and which is a highly private, personal and even painful matter. However, on Monday he broke his protracted silence on the much-speculated-upon issue and with limited commentary from our own still-healing editors, here’s the news.

On Monday, Steve Jobs personally and specifically, for the first time since long-running rumors began last year as people became concerned about his gaunt appearance and lowered public profile, addressed questions about his health in a press release meant to clear the air and focus Apple’s presence at Macworld on other matters.

Jobs confirms that his absence from this years Macworld keynote is due to his health. Jobs had been losing weight for quite some time now, leading media and fans to speculate that his health might be deteriorating. We know now that this is true though not so serious as the rumors would otherwise suggest.

Jobs paints an optimistic picture of the situation revealing it as a hormonal imbalance that his doctors feel can be corrected, but may take until late Spring to gain back the weight he has lost. Jobs had battled with pancreatic cancer circa 2003, but chose to keep it a private matter for months, revealing the situation after seeking medical treatment.

Like everyone, we wish Steve the best and hope his health improves; given the tremendous attention focused on this, despite our considerable sympathy with Jobs’ current situation and having to live under a such microscope on top of it…..we do plan to delve into this issue again in the coming hours and days in an attempt to bring some perspective — and just perhaps some that those who haven’t faced similar chronic, potentially progressive illness might benefit from.

Many web sites, as we will explore in further articles on this topic, are taking the tack “who cares about Macworld — we want to know more about Steve’s condition and/or possible future(s), their possible impact on Apple, etc!” And although we don’t entirely agree with that sentiment, we think that as people who are also advocates for the chronically & seriously ill we owe it to ourselves and to people everywhere like Steve who aren’t always able to publicly speak up for themselves in the way they might want.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was revised on the morning of Tuesday, Jan 6th to add the final two paragraphs which we intend to segue better into additional articles planned post-keynote on this topic, and to express our team members’ conflicted feelings about the public & press response to Steve Jobs’ latest announcement regarding his health.