A retired electrical engineer with months to live passed away following a “significant” injury at home exacerbated by terminal cancer.

Alan Donald Humphreys passed away at the Countess of Brecknock Hospice following a fall at his Adelaide Road home in March. He was suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, which made him more susceptible to the fall which ultimately killed him.

Paying tribute to her father, his daughter Debbie said that he was “private” and “self-sufficient,” and “had managed to lead his life as he and mother chose”.

Mr Humphreys had been at home with his wife, June, on March 13 when she heard “a loud bang” from the staircase. Rushing to the stairs, she found her husband lying face down on the staircase, and “saw a lot of blood on the stair carpet and spattered on the wall.”

He was suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, a form of cancer that causes an excess of disease-fighting white blood cells to be made in the bone marrow, which can cause those with the condition to suffer from “unusual bleeding or bruising”.

He had only fallen five steps on the staircase, but this caused “significant injury” due to the influence of the leukemia, which had left him with a few months to live.

Mr Humphreys was rushed to Basingstoke hospital, where it was found he had a C2 neck fracture and a traumatic subdural hematoma, or bleed on the brain. Dr Khan, from the hospital, said in a statement that due to his condition, surgery was not recommended, and that the seriousness of the injury meant it was “probably inoperable”.

After stabilising Mr Humphreys, it was agreed to move him to Andover’s Countess of Brecknock Hospice, having been placed on a palliative care pathway.

Dr Killick, from the hospice, said that following his admission on March 21 he had been stable, but that he had begun to deteriorate two days later.

“On March 23 at 11pm, he experienced a vacant episode and complained of pain in his head, and was increasingly drowsy,” she said. “It was decided his comfort was now a priority and he passed away on March 24.”

The cause of death was given as the traumatic subdural hematoma, contributed to by chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, the coroner, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, offered her condolences to the engineer, who was born in 1937 in Hackney, London.