Snowboarder’s partner’s heartbreaking moment of realisation that he was dead
Snowboarding legend Alex “Chumpy” Pullin’s partner recalled the heartbreaking moment when she realised he was dead.
Instagram influencer Ellidy Pullin has revealed the details surrounding her partner’s passing in July 2020.
The snowboarding cross world champion drowned while spearfishing at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, thought to have been the result of a shallow water blackout.
Pullin says she shared a kiss with the two-time snowboard cross world champion just one hour before his spearfishing adventure turned tragic.
She wrote in Australia Vogue: “I had just answered the door to my neighbour who explained she had just read on the community Facebook page that a man had been pulled unconscious from the water at Palm Beach reef. I thanked her, closed the door and went back to trimming the rug.
“The man would, in fact, turn out to be my partner of eight years, Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, 32, who, just an hour earlier had kissed me farewell on the driveway of our home.”
She went on to document her thoughts and feelings as well as the heart-wrenching details of that fateful day.
Pullin penned: “I remember the pin-drop moment when the policeman asked me whether my partner had tattoos, to which I answered, ‘Yes, an axe on his chest,’ and his eyes spoke the words he couldn’t deliver.
“I remember fumbling with my phone as I tried to call Chumpy’s parents, not entirely grasping what I was supposed to be telling them.”
The 29-year-old was faced with the heavy task of telling others that Pullin had passed away and gave an insight into how her psyche in the months following his death.
“I remember writing — “Chump passed away” — in perhaps the strangest text I’ll ever send to my closest girlfriends,” she continued.
“In those immediate days after losing Chumpy, and often times now, I feel like a fly on the wall to my life; a witness to my own grief, but somehow not the main character.”
What made the news even more traumatic for Pullin she was pregnant with her and Chumpy’s baby.
“Alongside the euphoria that comes with the imminent arrival of our baby, I feel a deep-seated sadness that Chumpy won’t get the chance to play dad, a role that would have come so naturally to him," she added.
“Being pregnant is bittersweet; on one hand I feel overwhelmed with happiness thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness, it’s alive, it’s really there,’ while also knowing Chump’s not here to share in it.”
Pullin boasts over 92,000 followers on Instagram and is also a swimwear model from Narrabeen on Sydney’s northern beaches.
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