a serious inquiry:

[moominmolly]

How do you help someone feel like life is worth living when they've basically just given up and decided to wait to die?

You'd think I'd be good at solving this one, but I'm not.

Comments

[ectropy.livejournal.com]

Tell him of specific, concrete ways in which having him around improves your life. Remind him of specific, concrete shared history that made you happy - advice, jokes, shared adventures, etc. Tell him of your hopes for a shared future. Let him know how much you value his being here.

Must be terse as I am sitting in company meeting.
Recent research indicates that suicidal thoughts are caused by only two main factors:
1. Being inured to human suffering - as in this case with chronic health problems.
2. Loss of emotional support network.

You can improve the second, although it will be hard to do from so far away.