My boyfriends mum (I say MIL for ease but we're not married yet, but this is how she referred to me in the hospital today 
) has terminal liver cancer and we have been up at the hospital this afternoon to see her. She's had a somewhat long road to diagnosis having originally suspected ovarian cancer due to her symptoms but after many tests and an operation to see if they could take the tumour out (when they opened her up it was seen to be too large and too mixed up with blood vessels to remove) she's been given 3-6 months, possibly longer with chemo. She was due to start chemo this week but has been hospitalised with a kidney infection and tonight they are planning to put a stent in the tube between her bladder and kidney as it looks like a blockage. All being well with this procedure and if they get rid of the infection she should be able to start the chemo.
My handhold really is just because I feel so utterly helpless supporting my boyfriend, his younger brother, her partner and her extended family (they have a big one!) Backstory is I lost my mum 6 years ago and my brother 4 years ago to this horrible disease and it breaks my heart to see them go through this. I'm struggling too as we're very close, she was there for me when I lost my younger brother at the same age as my boyfriend. It just seems so unfair. No real reason/cause as no underlying issues and no problem with alcohol (as suggested by docs who obviously were trying to find a cause for this horrible disease based on her type of tumour) My boyfriend has accepted the diagnosis but is I think in the denial stage of this journey. She herself has been so unbelievably strong through this 
I am endlessly grateful for the NHS and the lovely doctors and nurses who have looked after but I wish so much she was one of the lucky ones.