Husband found his ‘amazing’wife dead
ABRAVE nurse who lost both her legs and an arm after a simple cough turned to sepsis was found hanged by her heartbroken husband, an inquest was told.
Jayne Carpenter, 53, was left with just one limb but had vowed to battle on by fundraising to get pioneering limb surgery not available on the NHS.
She had raised more than £20,000 of her £265,000 target – but said she was “not having quality of life but enduring it”.
An inquest heard her husband Rob, 56, received a call from Jayne asking to pick up their dog.
He arrived at the house in Merthyr Tydfil to find her dead.
Jayne was described as “an amazing person” by Robert at the inquest – and said: “The brightest star in my sky has burnt out.”
Keen traveller Jayne was desperate to lead an active life but her independence had been “stripped overnight”.
In a statement to the inquest, he said she was a “happy, bubbly, sociable person” who had a passion for “travelling around the world” when they first met.
In 2016, she developed sepsis after going to the doctor with a cough.
In hospital, she was diagnosed with pneumonia and sepsis and spent two months in a coma.
After the amputations, Mr Carpenter said his wife “put all her effort into regaining her life” and “she amazed us as a family”.
He said that, as a sepsis awareness advocate, her experiences were used to “assist the education of medical students”.
But, in November 2019, he noticed “a sudden decline” in Jayne’s mental health and she began drinking more alcohol, he said.
The inquest heard she twice took an overdose.
The hearing was told restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic stopped her from enjoying the things that were important to her.
On the day she died on December 7, 2020, tests showed she had drunk “a large quantity of alcohol” but police did not find a note stating her intention to take her own life.
Assistant Coroner for South Wales Central Dr Sarah-Jane Richards said “undoubtedly, her loss of limbs inflicted a life-changing loss to this previously healthy and active woman”.
She added that her death was “in the context of traumatic, life-changing events having challenged her desire to live”.
In a heartbreaking interview in 2017, Jayne said: “I went from being a fiercely independent woman, with 30 years working in nursing, to becoming totally dependant on other people with every aspect of daily living.
“I just could not accept what had happened to me.
“I could not wash, feed, walk, make myself a drink, or even sit up on my own. It was hard, very hard, to accept the new me.”
The coroner concluded a narrative verdict that Jayne “died by self ligature in circumstances where her intention could not be discerned”.