Brave Inverness mum who campaigned with Marie Curie against end-of-life poverty has died of cancer
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A “courageous and selfless” Inverness wife and mum who fought cancer while highlighting the plight of the terminally ill people in poverty has died.
A funeral notice posted yesterday said Melanie Finlay of Castle Heather passed away on April 6.
The 49 year-old is survived by husband Tom (43) and only child Joseph (8).
A celebration of her life will be held this Sunday at 2.30 pm at the William T Fraser & Son funeral home at Culduthel Road.
The family say all are welcome with those attending encouraged to wear colourful clothing. Donations to Highland Hospice, where she was cared for, are also invited.
The former Police Scotland firearms licensing administrator battled financial hardship amid the cost of living crisis while living on benefits in her final months, championing the charity Marie Curie’s efforts to raise awareness of how poverty can afflict the terminally ill in their final weeks and months.
The funeral notice described Mrs Finlay, originally from Walney, Barrow-in-Furness, as “courageous and selfless, dearly loved wife to Tom and most loving mum to Joseph” and “the cherished daughter of Angela and Paul, much-loved step-daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin, friend and colleague joyfully remembered and deeply missed”.
After being diagnosed with stage four metastatic cancer, which spread throughout her body, Mrs Finlay was given 12-18 months to live early last year.
She was able to focus her final months on making memories with Tom and Joseph, helped by a Gofundme page set up by close friend and colleague Rachel Sutherland, which raised over £9000.
She also planned her own funeral and poured love and energy into trying to ensure Tom and Joseph were as prepared as they could be for life without her.
The couple were to celebrate their first wedding anniversary this month.
Her work in laying bare the financial struggles brought about through no fault of the family’s own, added a powerful voice to Marie Curie’s campaigning on the issue.
She and Tom, a computer analyst, experienced a drop in income just as the UK’s financial crisis hit many households severely and she battled the aggressive
Mrs Finlay’s work payments were reduced and she had to apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a struggle to make ends meet and heat their home.
Tom also had to reduce his working hours to help care for her.
Marie Curie has highlighted that over 90,000 people in the UK - 8,900 in Scotland - die in poverty every year.
The charity has called for the Scottish Government to increase child payments beyond the standard rate for terminally ill parents of working age.
It is also campaigning for a whole system approach to tackling end of life poverty, an extension of Scottish Carers’ Assistance for up to six months after the person’s care role ends, and for the UK state pension to be paid to terminally ill people of working age.
