It's difficult I can see. People deal with things like this differently - My wife was very open about her cancer - when she lost her hair she would walk bald headded in the street with outrateous earrings - it was the way she was and while I was there for her and was involved in her treatment right through to the end I think she was only ever fully open with another friend with very serious cancer.

My advice is don't push it - see if you can find a way for him to find this forum or the McMillan one or similar - he may also only feel comfortable talking about it to people in the same boat.

He may be dealing with it by shutting it out and not thinking about it - denial works for some people and by asking him to talk about it you are making him think about it and confront it which maybe he doesn't want to do - at least not yet.

Are these female friends telling you to make him talk about it? Remember often we men don't like dealing with things by sharing lots of strong emotions especially if they are painful and scarey.

I'm guessing the best way you can be there for him is to try to find things you can do to help take his mind off of it - when he wants to talk about it he will - it may not even be with you and that's OK.

Being there for someone means on their terms not in the way that you or anyone else thinks is best

I know that's tough on you I'd have found it really difficult in that position and I don't know that I'd have been up to heeding my own advice.

Best of Luck

It's difficult I can see. People deal with things like this differently - My wife was very open about her cancer - when she lost her hair she would walk bald headded in the street with outrateous earrings - it was the way she was and while I was there for her and was involved in her treatment right through to the end I think she was only ever fully open with another friend with very serious cancer.

My advice is don't push it - see if you can find a way for him to find this forum or the McMillan one or similar - he may also only feel comfortable talking about it to people in the same boat.

He may be dealing with it by shutting it out and not thinking about it - denial works for some people and by asking him to talk about it you are making him think about it and confront it which maybe he doesn't want to do - at least not yet.

Are these female friends telling you to make him talk about it? Remember often we men don't like dealing with things by sharing lots of strong emotions especially if they are painful and scarey.

I'm guessing the best way you can be there for him is to try to find things you can do to help take his mind off of it - when he wants to talk about it he will - it may not even be with you and that's OK.

Being there for someone means on their terms not in the way that you or anyone else thinks is best

I know that's tough on you I'd have found it really difficult in that position and I don't know that I'd have been up to heeding my own advice.

Best of Luck