[bodhi]

> they just say; he/she died of X

That's what my sneaking suspicion was. I recall having heard expressions like "after a long battle with illness", but your point makes a lot of sense.

Actually, I realise there's no mention of losing in that expression, which was made clear to me after finding this article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carole-brody-fleet/long-term-i...

after searching Google for the above phrase.