What's he dying off? (or would you rather talk in private?)

he has a congenital heart defect. part of his heart causes a back wash into is major artery, and it will explode relatively soon
there is a surgery thatg could be done, but the waiting list is long, and the side effects of having it done really are worse than death
he couldnt do anything, without the shunts coming off, and killing him anyways
he'd be couch bound, he couldnt even walk up a hill
so he opted out of that