EPILEPSY sufferer Jenny Mackay died a week before her 11th birthday after suffering a massive epileptic fit at her home.

A High Wycombe inquest ruled that Jenny died from natural causes at her family home in Meadow Drive, Amersham, on Wednesday, August 9, last year.

Dr Corene Bowker, consultant pathologist at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, told the inquest Jenny had suffered some bruising and haemorrhaging but added that her injuries were consistent with that of sudden death through epilepsy.

After the inquest Jenny's mother Sue, who found her daughter dead, said: "We have waited about five months for this and it was all over so quickly. Now we can plan to make our lives better at home."

Jenny's father Peter added: "Jenny was a happy an affectionate child. Despite all her problems, she never complained."

Describing the events leading up to her daughter's death, Mrs Mackay, a chef and kitchen porter, said: "Jenny had been fine but she was a bit tired."

Mr Mackay, 50, continued: "Jenny settled down and I gave her her pills then she went to sleep."

But during the night Jenny fell from her bed on to her bedroom floor during a seizure.

Mr Mackay, an accountant, heard the commotion and immediately rushed upstairs to put Jenny into the recovery position and left her to rest.

Mrs Mackay, who returned from work soon after Jenny's fit, added: "My husband said she was recovering on the floor and resting so I went to bed. I went to wake her on the Wednesday morning and she had not moved.

"I knelt near her and heard no heartbeat. I remember thinking my daughter has died, I couldn't tell you what it was like. I was just numb."

Bucks Coroner Richard Hulett said: "In this case we know Jenny had quite a long history of epilepsy. This is a mysterious thing, the precise mechanisms of which are still not fully understood."