Sell the big house, settle into a lesser (but still comfortable) style of living AND RETIRE. You don't need to live the high life (keeping up with the Joneses). He deserves it. Of course all bets off if he still has young kids.
If he gets antsy, he can always get a $10/hour job to keep him outta the wife's hair.
I don't know what part of the country your friend is in, but moving away from the big urban rat race and buying 5-40 acres with a nice house and a barn will do wonders for him.
I did this back in 1998-1999 time frame, and I'm perfectly happy now. I currently still do a little work for a few straggling clients, and I make about $5,000 to $7,000 per year with that. I hunt, fish, grow a few acres of garden, and I'm planting a vineyard next spring.
If you grow a lot of your own food, and buy the rest in big quantities when its on sale, you can live on much less than most people would believe. The key is to get completely out of debt and own your home and land outright. Paying interest sucks, and it will keep you working long hours.
They just dug out of a ton of unexpected medical bills. They have school aged kids and a toddler. They were actually headed to a simpler life and got blasted with other issues.