AN ALCOHOLIC who died on a shared toilet in temporary accommodation was trying to get her life back on track. Eileen Joyce Ferguson, 59, of John Street in Rhyl, was found dead in the bathroom of her top floor flat at 6am on March 3. Known to be a big drinker, there was no alcohol in her system when she died and she was only days away from getting a new place to live. An inquest held at Prestatyn Coroner’s court last Monday, by Kirit Champaneria, found that she had died of pneumonia. The mother of three was born in Colwyn Bay and married at the age of 20, before moving to Enfield. Daughter Denise Ann Webb said: “She smoked all her life and developed alcoholism before we were aware of it. She moved around a lot because of her alcoholism.” In 2006, Ferguson was given a house near Denbigh, but made herself homeless and moved to Rhyl where she found temporary accommodation on John Street. Eileen’s other daughter, Davina Ferguson, told how her mother was recovering before her demise. “She had been in John Street for seven months and that Monday she was due to go and get herself a bank account and move into the bed and breakfast across the road, but she died on the Saturday before that,” said Davina. “She once came round to ours and said we had nothing to drink, before drinking all our whisky. “She would usually drink whisky and coke in the morning and drank a bottle of whisky over about three days, as well as having four big plastic bottles of white lighting cider every day.” But Eileen’s heavy drinking habits did not contribute directly to her death. Pathologist Dr Craig Platt said: “Her liver showed quite a bit of fatty change in keeping with somebody with a history of chronic alcohol abuse. “Her right lung was twice the normal weight and she had acute pneumonia. She would have been unable to get enough oxygen.” The coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes. Summing up he said: “She was a lady who could drink a fair amount of alcohol. It contributed to her death but was not a primary reason.” | 
Article
