Remembering Sumi

[Nifty]

4/21/2020, A VERY sad update: We're very sorry to say that our beautiful friend and amazing soul Sumi passed away 3 pm Irish time. It was peaceful and pain free.

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As some of you may know, our beloved moderator Sumi went missing a few weeks ago. About a dozen of us were frantically working to try and get in touch with her, but to no avail. We were worried sick about her, and her 13 year old son.

We don't want to go into too many details (unless we hear from her that it's ok), but we found out today that a few weeks ago she was hit with a major medical condition that landed her in the hospital. While we're now able to finally breathe a slight sigh of relief knowing at least SOMETHING about her situation, she's still not out-of-the-woods.

The staff discussed how to best support this AMAZING member of our community. As you all hopefully know, we have a strict rule about not asking for charitable donations... well, we all decided (and something I can do since I own this site ) to break the rule this one time in 12.5 years.

Sumi has been such an amazing member, friend, and support to our community. In efforts to get away from a bad situation, she and her son moved to Ireland without really knowing anyone or having a job lined up. She's in a pretty isolated area and has loved being able to associate with our community here. She could definitely use all the help we can provide to show our appreciation and support for her!

We looked at lots of options, but decided to go with a well-known entity to process this: Paypal. The funds will go directly into her Paypal account (that she's used within the last few weeks, so I know it's working). We chose this over other "crowdsourcing" tools since it has the lowest (by far) fees, and is dead-simple.

Please click the image or link below and donate what you can. Also please leave her a nice note when processing the donation, and feel free to copy the note as a reply here as a way to publicly acknowledge her awesomeness and to keep this thread actively bumped

We love you Sumi and hope for a very FULL and speedy recovery!

We look forward to your posts of gratitude, support, and encouragement as she goes through this process!!

NOTE: This was originally posted on BYC here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-support-sumis-health-recovery-fund.1335205/

 

[Nifty]

My heart is broken over the loss of such an AMAZING woman. Loved and respected by literally thousands of people, as well as directly and indirectly having a huge positive impact on the lives of literally MILLIONS around the world through of her work with the BYC community.

I'm blessed to have finally met her in person just a couple of months ago and present her with an updated copy of my book with her in the "Acknowledgement". It's a small thing, but I like to think it helped solidify how much she was appreciated!

I'm incredibly lucky to have worked with her all these years, to become her friend, and feel her wonderful spirit. She will be sorely missed.

 

[sumi]

Thank you, all of your messages and thoughts is such a comfort to me now

I came here to update quickly. I started my chemotherapy treatment this evening. Wish me luck now, please and those who do, send prayers that it will take care of the cancer completely for me now I just want to be healthy again.

 

[baymule]

When Sumi moved to Ireland she needed an income. @Nifty and SS were there for her. Nifty thank you for what you did for her. She was a fine lady and I am glad she was able to move to Ireland and live out her adventure.

 

[sumi]

Hey everyone I'm sorry I haven't updated here much over the last 2+ month! I've been spending a lot of time in hospital and after a bit of a break at home, more time in hospital, following radiotherapy treatment.

The good news is that I'm "off" the treatment for a bit now I have to go in to see the local hospital and then at some point Dublin hospital to see the specialist there as well. But for now I'm having a bit of a break and am able to make an effort here too. Not to mention that my head is a bit more with me now! LOL Radiotherapy is no joke...

Thank you all so much for your patience with me over the last few weeks And apologies for my silence mostly too. I just felt it easier to read this forum, without talking too much myself. I will be more active from here on out though!

Love you guys ♥

 

[Nifty]

Care to introduce the other 2 in the pic? I can figure out who Sumi is, and I see her son (don't disclose his name b/c he's a minor) But, who's the other lady?

That's me and my girlfriend with Sumi and her son (super nice / smart kid)

@Nifty - I am also concerned/curious about the ownership/status of the forum.

I remain the owner of SS. Sumi loved this community and asked for a much more significant role in the management and direction of the community. She requested that I maintain ownership of the site as well as the maintenance of all the hardware, software, etc. So, I took a step-back from the public-facing forum stuff on SS and allowed her to make executive decisions with the community management.

Fortunately there's no reason to be concerned. Sumi hasn't been able to actively manage / moderate things over here for over 6 months since she first started having complications from her condition. SS continued, and continues to run very smoothly and well with the great efforts of the awesome members of the community, especially when everyone treats each-other with respect and follows the guidelines Sumi promoted.

 

[Wannabefree]

I was just reading all of mine and Sumis PMs when she was first taking over and so excited 🥰 I wish I hadn’t stayed away so long. I hate goodbyes but I hope she knew I thought the world of her too, and this forum. So many of my best friends are on here 🥰🥰🥰

 

[sumi]

Hey everyone... It's taken me ages to get to you all and I'm sorry

Can I start by saying I'm so grateful for you all's support, patience and messages, etc? I thank each and everyone of you so much for everything you have done and is still doing for me. And Rob, for starting this thread and breaking the rules! I love you guys...

Now... What happened is that my cancer came back... And it was on my brain this time... I had a successful surgery to remove the tumour and all is good there now, which I'm grateful for!

Where and how this one started and if it is anywhere else in me, the oncology team is going to find out now. And the treatment for "in case" and what may be left is going to start next week as well.

Good news is I'm recovering well from the surgery and I'm looking forward to being back with you all properly

Thanks again for your help, support, prayers, everything... Everything is deeply appreciated!

 

[sumi]

@tortoise I'm hanging in there at the moment. The chemo is draining me and I went and got sick from something. Loads of blood off for testing and an X-RAY today, followed by antibiotics and and via IV... Not happy about that, but I'm in good hands here, so I'll keep going. This will hopefully pass soon!

 

[tortoise]

Wow that sounds very difficult and exhausting. Hoping it passes soon. Quilt picture (not mine, unfortunately) to brighten your day.