A father died following a drug overdose last summer just days after telling his family: “You will be burying me next week.”
Shane Eagle, 42, who lived at North Everard Street in Lynn, died a drug-related death at the town’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital on June 11 last year.
An inquest yesterday heard that Shane, who “adored” his young son, started to take drugs in his youth and “never really stopped”.
A statement from his sister, Jodie, was read during the proceedings, which said that prior to becoming addicted to substances such as cocaine, Shane was a “kind and caring person with a big heart”.
However, a downturn in fortunes ultimately led to him being in and out of jail prior to passing away last summer.
In the lead-up to his death, he had taken a range of drugs – including different forms of medication – and consumed alcohol.
After a day out in Lynn town centre to visit the cinema, Shane’s mother-in-law arrived back at her home in the town – while accompanied by children, including Shane’s son – to find him slumped outside the front door along with another woman.
In a statement, Carole Parkyn, Shane’s mother-in-law, told the inquest it was not unusual to find him in a state like this.
However, after she and others were unsuccessful in waking him, they noticed that his face was pale, his lips were blue, and he was not breathing.
Ambulance crews were called shortly after 5pm on June 11, with CPR carried out before crews arrived. Paramedics subsequently administered adrenaline and incubated Shane.
He was admitted to the accident and emergency department at 6.15pm, and measures were put in place to regulate his blood pressure.
His heart did start to beat again at one stage, but he never began to breathe by himself.
Staff soon noticed that the loss of matter in his brain was consistent with an injury to it – while his cardiovascular state was “unstable”.
After being told Shane had gone into systematic organ failure, his family decided they did not want to “prolong” his suffering. He was pronounced dead at 12.55am.
Yesterday, area coroner Yvonne Blake concluded that he died a drug-related death. She said that a cardiac arrest was caused by cocaine use and Bronchopneumonia.
A toxicology report conducted at the University of Leicester had previously found that Shane had a number of drugs in his system at the time he died.
These included benzoylecgonine – a cocaine breakdown – as well as methadone and nordazepam.
Those tests suggested no one drug was responsible for Shane’s death, and that the combination was likely to have led to “excess sedation” and respiratory depression.
The statement from Jodie, Shane’s sister, said that he would “always help others” despite his own problems.
However, she said he was frustrated by the “undesirable” location he lived in, being surrounded by “lots of addicts” and complaining of mould in his home.
He occasionally sofa-surfed as a result of this, and on numerous occasions was found unconscious my members of the public after overdosing – but this was “not enough to deter him”.
The inquest heard that Shane had become “withdrawn” prior to his death, and in the days leading up to it he had made a number of visits to purchase cocaine.
He told family members: “You will be burying me next week.”
Louise Clark, a friend of Shane’s for three years, provided a statement which said she had been with him when he consumed a mixture of cocaine, diazepam and beer in his final days.
He made trips to purchase £60, £50 and £30 worth of cocaine over that period of time. At points, he used Louise’s phone to organise this.
A clinical report from the QEH revealed that Shane’s medical history had involved alcohol misuse, while he had previously been admitted to hospital after ketamine and opioid overdoses.
He is believed to have smoked around 30 cigarettes a day, and suffered with breathlessness.
Shane did engage with both the QEH’s mental health teams and the Change, Grow, Live service in Lynn, but their efforts were hampered because he was in and out of prison.
Shortly before he died, he had been in court and handed an 18-month community order which required him to complete six months of alcohol rehabilitation and mental health treatment.
Jodie’s statement said she was concerned about the amount of medications Shane was being prescribed despite his various addictions.
However, Ms Blake made clear that Shane only had one prescription at the time of his death. It was delivered in a way which meant he could not take it all at once.
On Shane, Jodie said: “At times it could be difficult to get along with him, but he was always loved.”
She added: “So many what ifs – did we support him enough? Could we have done more?”