Woman married months before death, inquest told

A smiling bride who got married while terminally ill died six months later, an inquest heard.

Christine Gibbons, 39, from Gardiner St, Dublin, died at the Mater Hospital on August 24, 2015. She had married her fiancé of 17 years only months earlier.

Ms Gibson, who developed a rapid growth tumour in her liver, was taken off the transplant list because the cancer was so aggressive. She died due to liver cancer complicated by cirrhosis of the liver due to hepatitis C which she acquired in her early 20s as a result of drug use.

Dublin Coroner’s Court heard she used drugs for a short period in her early 20s but had beaten addiction and had been clean ever since.

“It’s a whole sequence of events, a lifestyle problem going back to when she was very young. It’s very sad,” said coroner Brian Farrell.

Family members said she had stopped using drugs 18 years ago and had hepatitis C for a long time before she realised. She married Vincent Callaghan (then 43) after being told of her terminal diagnosis in a ceremony organised by a group of local community representatives who wanted to make her dream come true.

Her parents and brother in law attended yesterday’s inquest at Dublin Coroner’s Court. Dr Farrell returned a verdict of death by misadventure.