A BARROW woman who died suddenly at home five years after overcoming cancer passed away due to natural causes, a coroner has ruled.

Susan Stutchbury, 63, was found dead by her son Frankie, at her home on West Shore Park, Walney on November 1, 2021.

Mrs Stutchbury, who was widowed in 1998 at the age of 39, developed mouth cancer in 2015 which was successfully treated with surgery and radiotherapy.

The cancer treatment left Mrs Stuctchbury, a long-term heavy smoker, with persistent problems with her jaw, making it impossible for her to eat solid food, and she had regular maxillo-facial follow-up appointments.

In a statement read to the Coroner's Court in Cockermouth, her brother-in-law Colin Evans describes visiting Mrs Stutchbury at 4.30 pm on October 31, the day before her death, when they had a brief conversation at the door of her home, and "she looked her usual self".

A statement by her son Frankie said that he had sent his mum a message on Whatsapp on the morning of November 1, but became worried when she hadn't responded by 10am, and he decided to leave work and go to her house.

He described phoning her twice with no answer, and received no answer when knocking on her door, but could see her slippers through a gap in the closed blinds through the frosted glass in her door.

The statement said: " I panicked at this point and ran around to the rear of the address. 

"I forced entry to the door, and upon entry I could see my mother on the floor in her bedroom."

A police constable attended, certified that there were no suspicious circumstances, and Mrs Stutchbury was formally identified at 12.18 pm.

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Assistant Coroner for Cumbria, Dr Nicholas Shaw noted:

"The previous evening, there were no concerns, and then the following morning, Frankie had that dreadful shock of finding her deceased."

A postmortem reported that the most significant was that of severe coronary artery disease, where in places the residual space for blood to be pumped through was as little as one millimetre, but no evidence of thrombosis (blockage of a blood vessel) or a heart attack.

Toxicology showed evidence of prescription medication and alcohol, but none in lethal doses, though the postmortem concluded that the combined toxicity could have contributed to the primary cause of death of coronary artery disease.

Concluding, Dr  Shaw recorded that Mrs Stutchbury died of natural causes, and that the most important factor was coronary artery disease in her right coronary artery, which is "well associated with sudden death".

Dr Shaw said that if she were presented at hospital, they would have "had to bypass it or unblock it", and "it's not something you could continue with."

He noted: "The previous evening, there were no concerns, and then the following morning, Frankie had that dreadful shock of finding her deceased."

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