were they both smokers by any chance?
reason I ask is I have spent 30 years trying to get my mam off the fags but she won't(or can't) stop, she seems to think that when her times comes it will be quick and painless but I can't get through to her that it could take years of pain,suffering and immobility before it happens.
not to mention not seeing her gran kids grow up, I thought that one would have been the trump card not so..

steve