Hello and thank you for your post,

I am sorry to hear about your brother's situation.

Understanding someone's prognosis (how long they have to live) is best coming from the specialist doctor involved in their care. This is because they know all the details of their cancer.  Doctors base their assessment of someone's outlook/prognosis on their experience of looking after other patients with the same cancer. This will vary to a degree, depending on a person’s age, the extent of their cancer, and their overall general health. However, even they cannot be completely accurate as prognosis is such a hard thing to predict in an individual person.

I see that your brother is being discharged from the hospital, so he may have been referred to have carers and/or district nurses and the community palliative care team. They will provide, care and support to him and the family.  It may therefore be helpful to talk with the community teams about this.

You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Take care,

Caroline