Woman died, sadly, without help (7)
I believe the answer is:
unaided
'without help' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'woman died sadly' is the wordplay.
'woman' becomes 'Una'.
'sadly' indicates an anagram.
'died' with letters rearranged gives 'ided'.
'una'+'ided'='UNAIDED'
(Other definitions for unaided that I've seen before include "Without help or assistance" , "Without extra help" , "having received zero help" , "Without help or support" , "Dun aide being without help" .)