Between Sailorman and me, we have 4 kids - two teenage girls, 15 & 16, two young men, 18 & 23. It's hard on the kids, of course, but it's much better now than when I was a kid and the word "cancer" was taboo. I remember going to the hospital where my father was in bed and the doctor said "he has melio-forum simulationitis of the careapea and efluspient conradscant pectum apum gilio fo." Then he turned around and left. A nurse, who had been standing outside the door, came in and said "He has cancer" and yet it was so taboo that, for a long time, my father wouldn't admit what was wrong with him.
Our medical system is much improved, doctors have been trained to be human (as well as being doctors), there are forums such as this where people can find information if they seek it, and nothing needs to be mystified anymore. We can see reality and see that lots of other people are going through the same reality.
It's an important lesson - how to deal with illness. When there's kids around, you have an opportunity to teach them.
