Have you ever been so sad that you could not help crying in front of your child?

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I just receievd an email from my mother yesterday. In it she told me, that she cannot keep on any more, and that she does not want to live. She has suffered from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) for more than five years, and she is paralyzed, unable to breathe on her own, and only her eyes, her ears and her brain are still functioning. She is locked inside her own body. I have taken care of her for the past two years, but two months ago I moved back to the U.S., so that I could keep my family together, as I had been living in my native country with the kids, while my husband has been moving back and forward. I knew that my mother would not be able to live much longer, and I knew that the fact that I left would just add to it. And now - now it seems that she has made her decision - she wants to die!! I am so completely heartbroken, and my entire body is aching. Yet, I still have to take care of my children. When I asked for a few hours to mysef, my husband told me that I cannot get any time to myself, because he is working seven days a week. I cry and cry and cry, and even when I am not, the tears will just start reappearing. Once in a while I get my act together, I feed the kids, I give my youngest son a bottle, and I change his diaper. My oldest son keep kissing me, gives me hugs. How do I tell him that his grandmother is going to die. I told him that she had gotten more sick, and this is why I am crying. I feel so bad for crying in front of my children, for not being able to handle the situation, but I just don't have anyone, who can take the kids so that I can be by myself and get everything out. Have you ever cried in front of the children, and how did you handle it? Have you ever seen your parent cry, and what did it make you think?I really feel like such a failure as a mother that I cannot keep my tears away from my children.