Scottish Catholic Observer

St Mary’s Church in Inverness has launched an appeal to raise donations for the family of a much-loved organist who passed away while on holiday in Bulgaria.

Lily Datony, a professional musician who performed at weddings, funerals and at services in St Mary’s, was living with cancer, which had spread to her bones, and hoped that spending some quality time with her husband, Oleksandr, in Bulgaria would help her deal with her illness.

However, after two weeks in the country, she lost her appetite and became weak. She was left unable to move without assistance and was taken to a local Bulgarian hospital. Doctors were unable to find what had caused the sudden deterioration.

Initially, they considered driving her by ambulance back to Edinburgh, a journey which would have cost the family £4,000 and would have taken at least 36 hours.

Lily’s relatives decided that the risk of her not surviving the journey were too high, so she was booked into a private hospital in Sofia. Due to Lily’s condition, the family were unable to attain insurance cover, and had to pay the costs for her medicine, food, transport and for family accommodation.

Lily sadly died after her condition deteriorated further, and, due to costs incurred, her family now face debts of £6,000.

In order to help relieve the financial strain on Lily’s family, her parish of St Mary’s in Inverness is reaching out to people across   the country who might be willing to help.

Her husband, Oleksandr, said: “If someone can spare even one pound, I would greatly appreciate it.

“Of course, no money in the world will make the pain go away, but the financial strain is just too much. Thank you all.”

Fr James Bell, parish priest of St Mary’s Church said: “Lily was very well respected by everyone here. She was a very private person, and I regret that we didn’t know about the cancer.

“She had a fall and walked with a crutch for a while, and people thought that was the problem. She didn’t look ill.

“Donations are coming in steadily for the fund, but there’s still a lot to find.”

Fr Bell explained that there have been problems with her cremation, but they are hoping it will happen within the next week. Anyone wishing to donate to Lily’s family can hand money into the parish Office, marking their donation ‘Lily Datony.’ There will also be a series of Second Collections made in church over the next two months.

Lily, who was Orthodox, was ‘very ­faithful’ to St Mary’s services, said Fr Bell, despite her different faith.

“We’ll have a funeral rite for her here,” he added. “That’s what she would have wanted.”