Cancer is something that can totally change someone's vision about life. As usual....nobody sees it coming. For your wife's friend it is even more difficult as it is not the first battle...

I do see some parents (observational) that spend time with their kids, but most of that time, all are sitting on screens of some kind. They are in the same room, but not actually together

This is something I started to notice as well. It is utterly sad.