Death will come to us all at some point, in some form. It's a natural element of the life experience. We are all very much living under a sentence of death--what separates us from those sentenced to die by the state is that we do not know a specific date for our appointment.
This can actually galvanize us to live life as fully as possible, while it is still ours to possess. It's like that song, "I wish you could live like you were dying." I see this as a portal into hope rather than despair, though despair could certainly be an understandable reaction too, and is one I would be in no position to judge.
So let's embrace life, friends, and stave off death for one moment, one day more...until He chooses to dance with us, and will stake a claim on our friendship as well.