She grew ill. C.W. Richmond dined with the Wards in September 1857 and soon afterward wrote to his wife: "Mrs. Ward has been very pretty but looks exhausted by illness."[7] She was still sick months later: Judge Ward wrote to his colleague Sir John Hall in March 1858 to explain why he cannot come to Auckland, saying he was busy with district court dates but also "partly on account of Mrs. Ward's state of health, which is so precarious that I dare not leave the Province for any long period, which of course renders her completely unable to travel."[8] She might have been suffering from diabetes which could cause the early onset of glomerulonephritis (GN),[9] at the time called Bright's Disease and which eventually caused her death. Symptoms of chronic GN include anemia, high blood pressure, swelling in the ankles and face, abdominal swelling and pain as well as frequent nosebleeds.[10]