"She said her son has had to deal with his dad dying and his grandmother (her mother - and she said her son was extremely close to her mother) all within a year."
Yes, on top of Christopher's death in October of 2004, her mom died of ovarian cancer in February of 2005. Then she was diagnosed last summer. Terrible trials for this family.
Oh, my. How horrible for their poor son. We should all pray for him.