Bill wasn't a regular in terms of posting on the forum, but he often read the race thread after every one of Jeff Gordon's races. The race thread is usually about 40 pages long. With 25 posts on each page, there's about 1000 entries during the course of a four-hour race. It provides a snapshot of how the fans were feeling at particular moments during the race. Every now and then he'd have something to contribute about the race -- usually on the Monday after the event. When he posted on November 26, it was an off-topic post about his surgery.

It's fairly unusual for anyone to post on the forum using their full name. But, I suppose it made it easier to pray for 'Bill' rather than his username 'REFUSE2LOSE24485.' There were several responses from forum members posting well wishes for him. He said it would be a week, so nobody was concerned that he hadn't posted about his condition in the days that followed the surgery on Tuesday. Bill made it through the 10-hour surgery. Seemingly, the hard part was behind him. But later that night, he went into cardiac arrest. He passed away shortly after 2 am. He was only 22 years old.

Before the surgery, he told his father Brad about his favorite website. He told him that he posted on the forum about his surgery -- and to let people on there know if anything happened to him. Two days after losing his son, Brad Simmerman logged onto the forum and thanked everyone for their thoughts and prayers for his son. He talked about the operation, he talked about Bill's previous heart problems, but he also talked from his own heart.

An internet forum is more than just words on a screen. It took me a long time to understand that. An internet forum is a community and a family. It's not a tangible item you hold onto or hug. It's simply a feeling of being with people that have similar interests. In this case, that interest is Jeff Gordon's racing career. What occurs nearly every weekend from February to November is more than simply cars racing around a track. Rather, it's a worldwide community experience.

Amen Mr. Simmerman, amen. On the last night of his life, Bill posted a message on the forum. You can't hear someone's voice on the forum; you can only read their words. Open heart surgery is an incredibly scary and serious event in someone's life. Yet Bill seemed upbeat about it starting with his "Hey y'all" greeting. He knew the risks associated with the surgery and accepted them. Perhaps there is a calm before the storm. When he logged off the forum that night, could he have known it would be the last night of his life? Could he have known that he'd be reunited with his mother within a day? You just have to live every day to the fullest because you never really know what tomorrow will bring. You now have another day in the bank -- spend it wisely.