I...that's all kinds of messed up and horrible to come at you from nowhere. Especially if you'd just had that hope tossed at you.
As someone who's been given charge of people's things when things like this happened, I'd say don't do anything drastic with them yet. You might want memories or they might be too much right now, but I wouldn't donate or sell anything until you know what's going to be best for you. Which...takes some searching.
I don't know that I'd call it a waste if he WAS getting better. Sounds like it did its job if only for a little while. Which has to be really cold comfort just now.