Jan 18, 2011 11:46 GMT  ·  By
Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs (left), and Steve Wozniak at an event at Kepler's Bookstore in Menlo Park, California
   Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs (left), and Steve Wozniak at an event at Kepler's Bookstore in Menlo Park, California

Dan Lyons, whom most people know as "Fake Steve Jobs," has decided to put his personal project - The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs - on hold, amid concerns of the CEO’s health.

Yesterday, Apple’s CEO sent out an email to employees informing them that Apple’s board of directors had granted him “a medical leave of absence,” following his battle with cancer and a liver transplant in recent years.

As soon as the news broke out, high-profile publications rushed to speculate on the cause of this second medical leave, willingly going against Steve Jobs burning demand - that the press would grant him and his family some privacy, this time around.

That didn’t happen, because Steve-Jobs-health news generate a great deal of page views, as Lyons himself points out.

But Fake Steve doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore.

“As for me, well, I’m sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to snoop around about Jobs and his health,” he states in a recent post in which he reveals he is not only retiring “Fake Steve Jobs”, but also urges the world to do the same, in order to “honor the visionary’s privacy wish.”

“I know his old partner and friend, Steve Wozniak. And I just can’t bring myself to call Woz and ask him what he knows. I’m sorry,” he continues.

“I know a surgeon who has worked at Stanford Medical Center, where Steve Jobs has received a great deal of his medical treatment.”

“But I won’t ask her what she’s heard. For one thing, she won’t tell me. For another, all the hot showers in the world could not wash that stink off me.”

“I won’t ask my friends who work at Apple what they know. I’ve never asked them for any inside information about Apple. We’re friends. I respect that. They don’t know what’s wrong with their boss. They’re just feeling awful.”

“I know the feeling. Today I’m feeling awful, too,” Lyons concludes.

Softpedia takes this opportunity to say that it wishes Apple's CEO a fast recovery.

Fans of Steve Jobs are encouraged to post their best wishes in the comments.