I know.  My hope was they didn't find out like...with a phone call and they had a chance to say goodbye.
freaking brutal.

we can talk more at length in person...again so much to type...but my thought is that Geddy and Alex did NOT know when they retired.
I think Neil may have, but did not tell them.  The interviews of Alex of Geddy never had a vibe of..."this guys really sick and needs to focus on this"
I felt like they respected his decision but clearly had NO idea that he had brain cancer or something life threatening.

I think if they did....you'd really have had a sense of like "he did so amazing and we just love what we did etc"
I felt like both Geddy and Alex were a little bummed and bummed would not override compassion for an ill friend.
so you get my point with that/