Christopher Taylor, 59, from Chalfont St Peter, sadly passed away on November 12 last year after getting treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive cancer of the white blood cells known as myeloid cells.

Beaconsfield Coroner’s Court was told on Wednesday (February 3) that Mr Taylor, the retired owner of a career company, found out he had cancer after calling his daughter, Emma Kedge, on June 18 last year saying he “felt really unwell”.

She said he had spent his earlier years skiing but was told by doctors around two-and-a-half years ago that he had high blood pressure, so he changed his diet and lost some weight.

However around 18 months ago, he started to lose quite a lot of weight and started to complain about shoulder, back and hand pain, the court heard.

In a statement read out to the court, Ms Kedge said Mr Taylor made several trips to Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville Hospitals last year, where he was given his diagnosis.

He was put on antibiotics and started chemotherapy soon after, completing three rounds.

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Mr Taylor was also due to get a bone marrow transplant when he was fully in remission, but sadly died before this could happen.

Ms Kedge’s statement said he came home for two weeks in between each round of chemo, and was switched over to a different type in the third round to combat his condition.

He was in and out of hospital for his treatment between July and August, and responded well to the first two rounds of chemo.

But he was rushed back to hospital on October 31, a couple of months after his third round of treatment, with a high fever.

His family saw him on November 1, which was his birthday.

The court was told Mr Taylor also suffered from emphysema and had smoked “throughout his life” but decided to give up on his birthday.

Ms Kedge said he “stopped talking to [the family]” on November 9, with doctors calling them soon after to say he was struggling to breathe and would be moved to the intensive care unit.

He developed neutropenic sepsis which is when the level of neutrophils – a type of white blood cell that works within the immune system to fight off infections – in the blood becomes low, and also pneumonia.

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Neutropenia can be caused by chemo and other treatments, and makes the body less able to fight off infections, according to Marie Curie.

His medical cause of death was recorded as multiple organ failure caused by pneumonia and neutropenic sepsis, in turn caused by chemotherapy and acute myeloid leukaemia.

Emphysema was recorded as a contributory factor.

Senior coroner Crispin Butler said it was a “very sad situation” because “the hope was for a bone marrow transplant”.

Recording a narrative conclusion, he said: “Mr Taylor died from infection in the context of reduced immunity as a side effect of chemotherapy combined with leukaemia.”