Holly, how awful this must be for you and your family. Prayers and pixie dust are headed your aunts way.
Talking to children about sickness and death should be kept at thechilds level. My dad recently had a quadruple bypass and was being considered for a pacemaker, when I found out (after the fact) I was hysterical and DS (6) was puzzled as to why I was crying. DH and I tried to explain the best that we could that grandpa's heart was sick and that he was in the hospital. He had a lot of questions and we answered them as basically as possible. We also explained to him about dying and heaven. I am not sure how much he understands about the subject, but the basic information is there.
{{HUGS}}}
Debbi