Hi. My name is Josh Marinacci. You might remember me from the webOS Developer Relations team. Despite what happened under HP, webOS is still my favorite operating system. It still has the best features of any OS and an amazing group of dedicated, passionate fans. I deeply cherish the two years I spent traveling the world telling everyone about the magic of webOS.

However, I’m not here to talk to you about webOS. I want to tell you about my brother in law, Kevin Hill. Two years he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. If you know anything about melanoma, then you know this was 100% terminal just a few years ago. Kevin and my sister Rachel have traveled the country joining every experimental trial to beat this. You can read about their amazing story on their site: The Hill Family Fighters.

The Hill Family

Kevin and Rachel have had amazing success but recently hit a roadblock: the scan a few weeks ago showed a spot on his brain. It’s a testament to his strength that he has continued to work remotely as a sysadmin through all of this (even using his TouchPad from the hospital), but the time has come to slow down. We have not given up hope that he can beat it, but this latest development means he must finally quit work and focus on staying alive.

It will be 90 days before his long term disability kicks in. That's 90 days without income, and just 50% of his salary after that. My sister works part time as a brilliant children’s photographer, but spends most days taking care of Kevin and their two little children, Jude and Evie. We’ve calculated that they need at least ten thousand dollars to Bridge the Gap and get them to the end of the year. This is where you come in.

I am auctioning off my entire collection of webOS devices and swag to help them cover the bills and fight the cancer.

I will be holding an online auction selling everything I have. There will be devices like Pre2s and Pre3s. Limited edition posters and beer steins. My personal water bottle that saved my life in Atlanta (it still bears the dents). In addition some of my former Palm co-workers are donating their own devices and swag. And the highlight is an ultra-rare Palm Foleo with tech support from one of the original hardware engineers.

With your help we can Bridge the Gap for the Hill family. Please add your name to my mailing list. I will send you a note soon when I have a final date for the auction. This list is just for the auction and will be destroyed afterward. Even if you aren’t interested in buying anything I could really use your help getting the word out. Let’s hit the forums, the blogs, and the news sites. The webOS community is the best I’ve ever worked with and I need your help one last time.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Josh

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