I want to apologize to everyone who has been eagerly waiting for the official release of Bodhi Linux 7.0. Unfortunately, I have been unable to work on its development due to a recent illness. Specifically, I experienced a major life threatening asthma attack around January 1st, which has been the most severe one I have had since reaching adulthood. As a result, I have had to spend much of my time visiting doctors and undergoing various tests. Consequently, all Bodhi development work on my end, as well as my job, have been put on hold, except for the occasional updating of a few packages.

As you may already know, I am still battling with my illness, although I am slowly making progress towards recovery. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincerest apologies for the apparent "bus factor" that our team is currently facing. Given the small size of our team, there are certain Bodhi-related tasks that only I can perform, such as creating the ISOs. In the future, I hope that we can work on a backup plan in the event that I am unable to work on the ISOs, update packages, or handle any other tasks that other team members are not equipped to handle. However, without additional help, it seems unlikely that we will be able to make significant improvements to our bus factor.

Although I have health insurance, unfortunately, it does not cover all the additional expenses that have been incurred due to my illness. As I have no income from my job, which does not provide "sick leave," vacation time, or other benefits that are expected of white-collar workers, but seeming most non-union "blue collar" workers are not important enough for, I have been forced to make some difficult decisions. Despite medical advice to the contrary, I have returned to my masonry job as of this week, and any medical treatments or prescriptions that I cannot afford to pay for now have been stopped. I have made a conscious decision not to put anything else on my credit cards or accumulate any more bills that I cannot pay. As a result of this illness, I am already almost $4,000 in debt.

If there ever was a time to donate to Bodhi now would be it. If only to keep me alive long enough to finish my work on this release. I am rather fearful of what will happen if I have to discontinue my usage of my inhalers. If I am able to continue with my masonry job, it will slowly pull me out of this financial hardship. How quickly depends upon whether I can push myself to work overtime or not. But one thing seems rather clear, if I can not afford my prescriptions I will quickly reach a point of being unable to work as either a brick mason or as a Bodhi developer.

Many thanks to all who have already donated this year and to all who read this and decide to donate.