I'm sorry, but this thread doesn't ring true at all. 90% missing - computer froze - backups won't load - sad story about wife losing her job - no mention of -rescan.
I've got a 2+ month old copy of my wallet.dat, and I'd bet good BTC that I could recover my current balance with that copy.
Maybe he just doesn't know how to properly restore. He didn't post a BTC address nor does he have a signature with one so I don't think he's trying to get any coins out of the community.