I am a: Quirky sysadmin. Geek. Gamer. Comic fangirl. My little space, my home on the interwebs. I blog about personal stuffs, work, various coding projects, and anything else I feel like.

I received an email from Father Luke this morning with news that a mutual friend has fallen ill … Fravia+. According to a post on his site, he was diagnosed a little over a year ago with a tumor — a metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the neck, to be exact. He has had many months of therapy and will be undergoing various operations and experimental chemotherapy to try to slow the tumor’s growth.

On his site he quotes, “Si sta / come d’autunno / sugli alberi le foglie.” This loosely means “We are as the leaves that cling to the branch in Autumn”, an Italian poem “Soldati” by Giuseppe Ungaretti. It’s about life, fall, uncertainty and things passing by. Fravia+ is uncertain of his chances of survival.

Something that had impressed me — for every occasion, his quotes and teachings contained poignant messages with deeper meaning.

While we’ve lost touch over the years, he is someone I have always respected. You see, way back when I was an “internet youngling”, I considered Fravia+ to be a teacher and friend, and I’m deeply saddened by the news of his illness.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.