Heartstrong – Ellidy Pullin, Alley Pascoe

‘If not with you, then for you.’

‘It was a perfect Wednesday morning when Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin kissed his partner, Ellidy, goodbye to go spearfishing. Most days Ellidy would go to the beach too, but that day she didn’t. Later, there was a knock at the door. A man had been found unconscious on the ocean floor. It was Chumpy.

From that moment, Ellidy’s world stopped. There was deep grief, disbelief and then the gradual realisation that this was real. Life was forever changed. Ellidy’s partner of eight years, a World Champion snowboarder, a man of energy and music, was gone. And so was the life they had built together and the dream of the child they had been trying for. In the hours that followed a suggestion was made, did Ellidy want to harvest Chumpy’s sperm and try for the baby they both wanted so deeply? There was a ticking clock and the need to speak to family and friends. They had thirty-six hours before it would be too late. Family, friends, lawyers and doctors helped to give Ellidy the chance to keep a small part of Chumpy alive.

Sorrow meant it took Ellidy a number of months to be strong enough to start IVF. The first round didn’t work. But the second did.