THE FAMILY of a tree surgeon who passed away following an accidental overdose of heroin in December has stressed the importance of identifying and treating ADHD from an early age.
An inquest into the death of 33-year-old Kevin Bradley Lane heard that in spite of his intelligence he was a restless, and sometimes disruptive pupil in school and left with no formal qualifications. At around this time he was associating with young adults in a similar position and started smoking cannabis as self medication for his restlessness.
At the inquest in Llanelli Town Hall on Wednesday (Feb 28) Coroner’s Officer Malcolm Thompson explained that Mr Lane was born in Liverpool and was fostered at the age of 16 months before being adopted by his foster parents.
When he was 11 the family relocated to Barry. While Mr Lane excelled in certain sports including swimming and the javelin, as well as displaying artistic talent, he struggled with written work as a result of dyslexia and undiagnosed ADHD and left school with no qualifications.
However, he was highly intelligent, and spent a lot of time accumulating knowledge through audiobooks and documentaries.
After holding a number of jobs, his family moved to Llandysul when he was 18. Around this time Mr Lane began work as a tree surgeon. He excelled at the job, and over the next decade gained qualifications and worked for a number of firms, becoming widely and highly respected in the business. He was qualified to cut trees near power lines and railways, and enjoyed the challenge of carrying out skilful work in dangerous situations.
Recently, he had begun an access course in art at Coleg Sir Gar, and eventually hoped to gain a degree and become a teacher.
Mr Lane’s family described him as an articulate, humorous and fun-loving man, with a keen interest in music. He would always help those in need, and once rescued a friend from drowning in Barry. On another occasion he carried a friend who had broken his leg a considerable distance to get help.
From the middle of his 20s, Mr Lane lived with heroin addiction, which he did not hide from his family. However, over the last two years he sought help to get clean from agencies such as DDAS and the Wellfield Clinic.
On the morning of December 12, police found Mr Lane collapsed and unresponsive in Marks and Spencer Carmarthen, with a used syringe nearby. He was taken to Glangwili Hospital and placed on a life support machine, but sadly passed away the following day.
His death was treated as non-suspicious and unexplained.
Carmarthenshire Coroner Mark Layton read from a toxicology report, which indicated that there was morphine present in his system at a level known to cause toxicity, although addicts generally developed a higher tolerance.
His family suggested that his tolerance could well have been reduced by his efforts to give up the drug, and Mr Layton agreed.
A statement from the family stressed the importance of properly identifying and treating ADHD from an early age. “This was a very significant cause of Kevin’s restlessness, and troubled nature from an early stage in life, and we understand that ADHD is highly correlated with drug use in young people,” they added.
Mr Layton concluded that the death was drug-related, and passed on his condolences to the family.
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