A bride who lived a ‘fit and healthy’ life died in her sleep aged just 36 after being left heartbroken by the death of her father.
Kelly Tarpey was found in bed by her husband John after she stayed in their spare bedroom to log onto Facebook.
In the run up to her death, Mrs Tarpey suffered two mysterious seizures – but had urged her husband to keep them a secret so as not to worry her grieving family.
Just seven weeks earlier her father John Thompson, 65, had died suddenly from a heart attack just two years after he gave Kelly away at her wedding to Mr Tarpey.
Kelly, the youngest of three girls, had been in good health prior to the fits and would regularly go walking with her 44-year old husband and their pet dogs.
‘DEVASTATING’: Kelly Tarpey was a keen walker and would take trips to the Lake District with husband John
At an inquest a coroner was unable to establish how she died – but her family insisted there were no links between Kelly’s death and that of her father.
After the hearing Kelly’s mother Mary Thompson, 63, said: “Without a doubt the two of them are now together. She died seven weeks to the day after him.
”We had always said she was in charge of looking after his grave and she took it to heart. You couldn’t get her away from there.
”I had been staying with my other daughters following John’s death.
”It was my first night home and when I got the news Kelly had died. It was absolutely devastating news. Kelly had such an active life, walking, there was never a question of anything being wrong.”
Kelly, a supermarket assistant, and window cleaner John had married in August 2010 at Ullswater in the Lake District and had their ceremony at Inn on the Lake pub.
Mr Thompson was a proud father of the bride and gave a touching speech about his youngest daughter and her new husband.
But in November 2012 Mr Thompson died suddenly for a heart attack leaving the family heartbroken. Kelly passed away on January 2 2013.
Kelly’s sister Yvonne Thornley, 44, said: “My dad’s death was very sudden. He and Kelly were close as she was always the baby.
“My dad gave Kelly away on her wedding day and walked her down the aisle. It was a beautiful lovely day at Ullswater.
”He did the usual father of the bride speech and was very proud that his youngest of his daughters was getting married. He was a joker and he always said he must have done something right because all of his daughters were happily married with lovely husbands.
”It is quite unbelievable and surreal what happened as they were both so fit and well. We had just spent the first Christmas without dad and mum had gone home on the 2nd January and then Kelly died. It’s devastating.”
Mr Tarpey, 44, from Blackley, Manchester, who had been with Kelly for 19 years, told the inquest the couple had enjoyed an active life holidaying around England and walking in the Lakes.
He told the hearing he had first become concerned about Kelly when she had a fit in November 2012.
It lasted around 20 minutes and an ambulance had to be called but despite having tests at hospital, nothing was found and she was sent home with Vitamin D tablets. But she had another fit in bed the following December.
Mr Tarpey added: ”It lasted three or four minutes but she would not go back to the doctors and wouldn’t let me tell anyone especially her mother. Kelly had only just lost her father seven weeks before.”
On the evening before she was found, Kelly had opted to stay in the spare bedroom as she wanted to go on Facebook.
Mr Tarpey said: ”I went to bed around 11pm. Kelly stayed up, she was fine and her usual self she was watching a television programme she had recorded earlier.
“I’m not sure what time she went to bed. Kelly was sleeping in a different room that night because she wanted to read, that wasn’t unusual. I have since found out that she was on Facebook.
“That morning I got up at 6:30am and looked in on Kelly, she was in bed lying on her left side. I didn’t go in because she started work later than I did.
”At 7:30am I went in, she was lying as before with top part of her back showing. It looked mottled. I tried to wake her. I couldn’t get a response, I turned her onto her back and she felt cold and stiff. Her lips were blue.
“Kelly was my soulmate, we would do everything together. We used to enjoy holidaying around England, boating around England. We got married in the Lake District and then spent our honeymoon there.
”We met when she was 19. She was as fit as a fiddle, she always had a smile on her face and was very well loved.”
Pathologist Dr Stephen McGrath told the inquest he hadn’t been able to ascertain a cause of death and said it was ‘probably’ natural causes.
He said: “It was a very challenging case. I probably do between 80 and up to 130 post-mortems a year and there is a very small number where we can’t detect why a person died. In this case there is a high possibility she recently developed adult onset problem with the heart.
”Problems with the heart can produce epilepsy episodes. I realise the outcome must be frustrating, we still don’t have enough evidence why she died.”
Coroner Mr Nick Stanage recorded an open verdict and said: “There’s not enough evidence going one way or another to ascertain what the cause of death was.”
Images courtesy of Facebook.
