Dealing with inevitable death of close neighbor

My wife and I have 3 daughters. The oldest is 6 1/2, middle is 3 1/2 and a baby. Our next door neighbor is losing a battle to cancer and will be going to hospice soon. Our oldest understands she's sick, but we've kept her from the severity of it. We're pretty close with our neighbor. My kids love hanging out at their house. They spoil my kids like they are nieces to them. I'm trying to decide if I explain to the kids now that the end is near or if I wait until it happens. My 6 year old will understand the situation. She's very aware of this stuff. My 3 year old will be somewhere in the middle. She understands a little bit and suprises me sometimes. I recently had an uncle pass away and she said "aww.....if he's in heaven that means you can't talk with him anymore."Do we wait or do we talk to them now? Our neighbor is to the point that we probably won't see her again. They've got a big family and I understand that they come first. I don't know what to do. My wife is still in denial and has a real hard time with death in general. She lost a brother when she was young and doesn't deal well with death....even when it's not tragic like old age.Any advice is appreciated. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2cGLqrt