One of the most tragic things that could ever happen to any of us is to lose someone we love. When somebody dies, the grieving process will last for many years and sometimes, it may never go away.
One person who understands what it is like to grieve the loss of a partner is Ellidy Pullin. Her partner, Alex Chump died when he was only 32 years old while spearfishing.
Ellidy has discussed the difficulties she faced after losing her significant other, especially at a young age and when their relationship was just blossoming. Since that time, however, she has given birth to his child and it is considered a miracle child.
She spoke in 2022 on the podcast about how she found out about the procedure that would allow them to retrieve sperm from Alex postmortem.
She also discussed what it was like on the day that she lost him, saying: “‘It was just a normal day, we woke up like any other day – the sun was shining, it was a beautiful day. Chump was like ‘Do I go for a surf today or do I go for a dive today?'”
He made the choice to go spearfishing that day while she walked their dog. Little did she know that it would be the last time she ever saw him.
Later, she saw a Facebook post about an unconscious body that was pulled out of the same area where Alex was spearfishing. She couldn’t have believed that it was her partner, but the reality of it finally kicked in.
Despite the fact that he was a former Winter Olympics athlete, he suffered a shallow water blackout when trying to hold his breath for an extended amount of time.
She said: “I saw him that morning – he’s the happiest, fittest person – and he just never came home that day.”
Only a few hours after he died, friends and family started discussing the possibility of retrieving sperm from his body because they were already trying for a baby. After the sperm is collected, it can be frozen and eventually used for fertility purposes.
Ellidy agreed with the process and six months later, started the IVF course. It took two rounds before she gave birth to Minnie Alex Pullin, 15 months after the father had died.
She said: “My grief is for Chump, he’s missing out on being a dad. I see dads with their babies knowing how good he would have been.
“Every day I go to the beach and I see guys walking along the beach with their chicks and the guy is carrying the baby in the carrier on his chest and the girl’s got the dog.”
“I am so happy for that person, it’s not a pity party here.”
”We were so lucky that his sperm was still alive, it was happy and healthy. Everything just aligned and I think Chump was just guiding it – I think it was all meant to be.”