That's tough, especially when there are children.

When I had cancer -- and here I must add that mine was at a much earlier stage, and I'm fine now -- what I mostly wanted was my privacy. But as it happened I was much more willing to allow people to help who if we had more casual relationships -- much like the one you describe here -- than friends and family who were close to me, like my siblings and close friends. I think I felt I'd have to keep up a false front of jollity with those I loved. Isn't that odd?

Funnily enough it never occurred to me to want to record myself making music; I wasn't in much of a mood to sing, I guess. Though everyone's different of course...

But I did buy a journal so that I could write messages for my then four-year-old son, mainly to tell him all the things about my family history that he would never hear from anyone else. And then, I didn't really have the energy to write in it. Possibly had someone been there to volunteer to hold an MP3 recorder and ask the right questions, that project would have gotten done.

Good luck, and good onya for wanting to help.