A woman has joyfully welcomed her late husband’s child, conceived 15 months after his tragic demise. Ellidy Pullin, an Australian model, faced the loss of her partner, Alex Chump, in 2020, following a fatal drowning incident while spearfishing at 32.
She shares her journey of discovering posthumous sperm retrieval and the subsequent birth of their ‘miracle child’ on a podcast. Ellidy recounts the ordinary day when Chump pondered surfing or diving, unaware of the extraordinary events to follow.
On the morning of July 8, 2020, Alex set off for spearfishing while Ellidy took their dog Manny for a walk. Unaware to Ellidy, it would be the last time she saw her partner.
Later, she came across a Facebook post reporting that an unconscious body had been pulled from the same spot where Alex had gone. She had no idea the body could be her husband’s, but when she eventually learned the truth, the horrific reality set in.
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The former Winter Olympian drowned due to a ‘shallow water blackout’ after holding his breath for too long.
‘I saw him that morning – he was the happiest, fittest person – and he just didn’t come home that day,’ Ellidy recounted. Mere hours after his death, Ellidy’s friends and family began discussing postmortem sperm retrieval, as the couple had been trying to have a baby.
Ellidy consented to the procedure and began IVF treatment six months later. After two IVF treatments, she gave birth to Minnie Alex Pullin in October 2021. ‘She’s four months old now – and she looks like him. I’ll see him in her eyes,’ Ellidy said in 2022.
She has since shared her story on her podcast, Darling, Shine!, explaining, ‘I mourn for Chump because he’s missing out on being a father. I see dads with their babies and I know how good he would have been.’
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