Updated

A professor who battled anorexia for 30 years had a heart the size of a child's at the time of her death, the Evening Standard reported.

Rosemary Pope weighed just 70 pounds and had existed on just coffee and sweets, an inquest into her death was told on Tuesday. She was 49.

Pope died March 21, but her body began to fail in January after contracting a stomach bug, which she was too weak to fight off, the story reported.

Her brother, Michael Pope, told the inquest that his sister, who was pro-vice chancellor of Bournemouth University in England, had struggled with anorexia since her teen years.

The 4-foot 10-inch academic also suffered from hypoglycemia, a condition that causes a drop in the body's blood sugar levels.

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