Bad news (fwd)

[Robert Watson]

Dear FreeBSD UK users,

Ruslan Ermilov is a long-time FreeBSD developer responsible for, among other 
things, large parts of FreeBSD's current build infrastructure and significant 
amounts of documentation.  I have had the opportunity to meet with him several 
times, most recently at EuroBSDCon 2004 in Germany.  He has recently learned 
that his wife has cancer, and he and his wife have moved on short notice from 
the Ukraine to Moscow to seek treatment for her.  As you can imagine, this is 
a significant financial blow, and has involved his leaving his job -- he's 
currently looking for one in Russia, but they face high treatment fees.

I have volunteered to help collect donations on his behalf in the UK in order 
to help them cover the cost of treatment; similar efforts are taking place in 
the US and elsewhere.  A Paypal account has been set up on his behalf in the 
US.  However, for those interested in making a donation who are not able to 
use Paypal, I am willing to help collect together donations and then make 
combined wire transfers in order to avoid per-transaction fees on smaller 
donations.  If you are interested in making a contribution from the UK but are 
not able to use Paypal, please contact me by private e-mail and I can provide 
you with account information.  My plan is to try and wire out initial funds 
next week, as she has now begun treatment, and then again in a couple more 
weeks if further donations are made.

Serious illness in a close family member is bad enough without the added 
burden of wondering if you can pay for the treatment.  The FreeBSD user and 
developer communities are generous, and I know that he can count on us to help 
him.

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 21:06:10 +0300
From: Ruslan Ermilov <ru at FreeBSD.org>
Subject: Bad news

Hi all!

As some of you already know...

I've got quite serious issues going on in my real life, and therefore
I have to ask for your help.  My wife Elena is seriously ill and
needs a very long and expensive treatment.  She will receive treatment
in one of the best oncological clinics in Moscow for approximately
6-8 months, maybe longer, and it will cost us several tens of
thousands of dollars.  We do not yet know if she will survive, but
we need to explore any possibility, and we hope for the best.  If
you wish and have the ability to help financially, please send your
donations, details are here:

 	http://people.freebsd.org/~ru/help/en/

Feel free to spread this news, keeping the reference to the above
page.

Thanks, and I wish very good health to you and your families.
May God bless you!


Cheers,
-- 
Ruslan Ermilov
ru at FreeBSD.org
FreeBSD committer