[gwern]

"They actually fond a cure for the sarcoma she was diagnosed with, but the cancer had already mutated into a form that did not respond to the treatment and she died two years later 2002"

One could also cite Steve Jobs. Despite heroic measures, his delay doomed him.

(To expand a little bit on this: the Gompertz curve means that even if a 85yo billionaire contracts some cancer and is able to buy a cure no one else can which isn't useless or iatrogenic, he is going to die very soon anyway as the annual mortality risk increases exponentially. This is what is behind those surprising observations like 'curing all cancer would only add a few years to the average life expectancy' - curing cancer just means that you die of dementia, Alzheimers, a heart attack or something else a year or two later.)

[nabla9]

Steve Jobs had good prognosis but he delayed the surgery almost a year and relied on 'alternative medicine'. Even with late start he still lived eight years after the diagnosis when doctors used all tricks money can buy.

> he is going to die very soon anyway

This is true. People close to 90 are one flu and pneumonia away from death.