A Cambria County woman may have died last week as a result of making contact with drug paraphernalia while cleaning up from the suspected overdose death of her son, the coroner said Tuesday. (MGN) 
 
 PORTAGE – A Cambria County woman may have died last week as a result of making contact with drug paraphernalia while cleaning up from the suspected overdose death of her son, the coroner said Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees said Theresa Plummer, 69, found her son, Ronald Plummer, 45, unresponsive in the bathroom Nov. 5. 
 
 He was taken to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown for a suspected overdose. 
 
 Ronald Plummer died Nov. 7, one day after his mother. 
 
 Lees said Theresa Plummer’s death may have occurred as a result of her cleaning up her son’s drug paraphernalia in the bathroom. 
 
 
 
 The coroner believes she likely absorbed a substance through her skin or had some sort of reaction to the paraphernalia after handling it. 
 
 Lees said Plummer became short of breath and was taken to Conemaugh, where she died Nov. 6. 
 
 
 
 "This is a caution for safety for anyone coming into contact with any type of powder substance," Lees said. "You should use extreme caution and notify the proper authorities. 
 
 "My strong advice to any family that may have this happen to them is to call law enforcement to have them or EMS services come back and remove the substance or material that may have been left behind." 
 
 
 
 Autopsies have been performed, but Lees is awaiting toxicology reports. 
 
 ||||| A woman cleaning her home after the suspected overdose of her son is believed to have overdosed herself. 
 
 Officials don’t believe she used the drugs – they think she accidentally touched something so strong it killed her, according to WJAC. 
 
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 Theresa Plummer stayed at her son's bedside in intensive care last week as doctors treated him for a suspected overdose, the news station reported. 
 
 The 69-year-old woman had found her son, Ronald, passed out in the bathroom of his home, according to WJAC. After he was hospitalized, she wanted to help him in some way, so she went back to clean up his bathroom. 
 
 Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees told WJAC that authorities believe Plummer absorbed a substance through her skin or had a reaction after handling drug paraphernalia while cleaning her son’s home. 
 
 She began having shortness of breath and was taken to the hospital, where she died Nov. 6, WJAC reported. Her son died the next day, according to the news station. 
 
 "This is a caution for safety, for anyone coming into contact with any type of powder substance,” Lees told WJAC. “You should use extreme caution and notify the proper authorities." 
 
 Authorities couldn’t immediately identify the drugs involved in the case. Toxicology results for the Plummers won't be back for another six to eight weeks. 
 
 ﻿The Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report. 
 

– A double tragedy in Pennsylvania, where authorities say a woman may have died because she cleaned up her son's drug paraphernalia after finding him unresponsive in the bathroom—and the son, too, ultimately died of a drug overdose. Theresa Plummer probably absorbed a substance through her skin or had a reaction to something she handled in the bathroom, the coroner says, according to WJAC. The 69-year-old found 45-year-old Ronald Plummer on Nov. 5; after he was taken to the hospital, she returned to clean up the scene, WOKV reports. She went to the hospital with shortness of breath and died Nov. 6. Her son died the following day. "This is a caution for safety for anyone coming into contact with any type of powder substance," the coroner says. "You should use extreme caution and notify the proper authorities. My strong advice to any family that may have this happen to them is to call law enforcement to have them or EMS services come back and remove the substance or material that may have been left behind." Toxicology reports are still pending, but autopsies on mother and son are complete.