The family of a woman who has not been laid to rest two months after dying launch an emotional fundraising appeal as they struggle to pay for the funeral
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Two months to the day since an Inverness woman died her partner and family have launched an emotional appeal for help to pay funeral costs they cannot afford.
Kim Jane MacKenzie died at home on December 10 last year, aged just 54, and since then her partner of 17 years, Daniel Mackenzie, has been unable to get the funds together to bury the former checkout worker.
Despite accessing Scottish Government support the family are still around £1500 short of being able to pay for a funeral, according to Mr Mackenzie, who sells the Big Issue.
He set up a Go Fund Me page but it has so far attracted just £250 in donations.
Mr Mackenzie admits that he is struggling not just with the costs but the strain of looking after his late partner’s son, Kevin, who has severe to moderate learning difficulties, on top of his own grief.
“I was the last person to touch her when she was alive when I tried to give her CPR, so that has been difficult to deal with,” he said. “I just feel that we are not getting any support from anyone at the moment. The Scottish Government money goes straight to the undertaker but it doesn’t cover everything.
“She has left behind a son and a daughter and two grandkids and I have taken on looking after her son Kevin, who has moderate to severe learning disabilities. Me and her son were the last two people to see her alive.”
The issue emerged after Tain councillor Derek Louden heard Mr Mackenzie’s story when he was buying the Big Issue and mentioned the issue at a Highland Council meeting, describing it as “shocking.”
“He approached me just before Christmas and the story rolled out of how his partner had died on the 10th and even then it was a couple of weeks and we are now into February,” he said.
“I find that really, really difficult – that there seems to be no solution to this. You would expect care from the cradle to grave, but that just doesn’t seem to be there.
“That you can’t seem to get a decent burial is something that I find pretty shocking. When somebody poor dies what do you do? My understanding is there is an option as an absolute last resort that someone is buried with no family involvement and that strikes me as really shocking in this day and age.
“If you consider the basic cost of a funeral – a lair is £965 but on top of that there is the cost of opening and closing the grave, which I think is another £600, so you are £1500 before you start looking at the funeral costs, which as I understand it is another £2000.”
Mr MacKenzie has called on those who wish to donate to do so through his Go Fund Me page which can be found here rather than in person.
Related Story – Highland Council to consult on management rules for burial grounds and Inverness crematorium
