Today I got this message in my orkut scraps:
Hello... It is my understanding that you are on Brian's contact list. My name is Sarah and I'm his girlfriend (soon-to-be a "mrs" sometime this summer). I regret to share with you that he will no longer be available. He passed away on Sunday, January 28th. He was 43 years old. It is a result of the ankle surgery he had on January 11th. Things were going well. The cause of his unexpected passing was a blood clot to the lungs. His doctor/surgeon did not provide him to take home anything to avoid such blood clot. We had a great weekend -- my 38th birthday was on January 26th, we had a houseful of kids and few friends over on the 27th. I had a blast in cooking and baking that day. Cooking is my passion, by the way. I need to be strong, but at the same time I feel extremely lost. I'm hanging in there, but I just missed him terribly. Thought I'd let you know that he won't be responding -- I'm contacting his Orkut buddies. Thanks for reading my message. Also, thanks for being Brian's Orkut friend.
Brian was a great guy. I will miss him greatly. My heart goes out to Sarah and his kin.
Brian Kadtke
January 28, 2007