Sitting in hospital right now with my mother. She was diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer in April 2018 and by that point, it had spread to her lungs, ovaries and spine. Life expectancy at time of diagnosis was 9 months. She is currently experiencing a very wet cough induced by over-secretion, also known as the death rattle. I read online that the average life expectancy following the onset of the death rattle is 23 hours but have seen some others post here that their loved ones died 2 hours after the cough started. This is tough, please pray for her everyone.