Dr. Joe Ferry is an American record producer, author, bassist, guitarist and educator. (wikipedia)
They often begin by starting with what the child already knows and observes, and what the siblings know.
They self-soothe. But gradually they'll accommodate for what real life is.
The primary task is to help them develop a context ... which becomes the experience they already know. It helps kind of ground them in some history so it doesn't feel like such a random thing.
There's no getting around having to say the honest statement, that from everything we know or from everything the doctors know, this person will die. That (still) allows for the eternal optimism of hope and a miracle.
