Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin’s partner Ellidy opens up on sperm retrieval process

Alex “Chumpy” Pullin’s partner Ellidy has opened up on the miracle post-mortem sperm retrieval process that led to her baby.

Australian snowboard legend Alex “Chumpy” Pullin’s partner Ellidy has opened up on her incredible birth story after the post-mortem sperm retrieval process made their daughter Minnie possible.

Ellidy gave birth to the couple’s first child in October 2021, 16 months after the Olympic star died on the Gold Coast.

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Pullin drowned in July 2020 while spearfishing at Palm Beach trying to get some fresh fish to make fish tacos for friends who were coming to stay, when he had a shallow water blackout, passing out under the water.

Ellidy revealed he had been wearing a weight belt and was dragged to the bottom of the ocean.

But incredibly, less than 12 months after Pullin’s death, Ellidy revealed that she was pregnant with their first child due to a snap sperm retrieval operation in the hours following his death.

She also revealed on her podcast Darling, Shine! that she had changed her surname from Vlug to Pullin, saying: “Chump and I were literally married in every single possible way from the moment we moved in together eight years ago”. She also said she “wanted to have the same last name as my baby”.

The two-time world champion’s death shocked the sporting world.

The couple had been trying for a baby for a year before the sporting icon’s death and she praised her friends for “stepping the f*** up” in the year after his death.

While Ellidy has been on several emotional podcasts speaking about her story, she opened up on the sperm retrieval process on the Life Uncut podcast, revealing how her friends made her daughter possible.

“I don’t remember a great deal about that day,” Ellidy told hosts Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley. “It’s a blur.

“But I do remember sitting out on the back deck with my head in my knees and my brother saying to me, ‘I think there is this way we might be able to get Chumpy’s sperm’.

“I didn’t even let him finish the sentence. I just said ‘Go, do whatever you need to do. Make it happen.”

Ellidy also revealed that two of her friends had “randomly” heard about the post-mortem sperm retrieval process and took it upon themselves to get the paperwork signed.

In Queensland, the post-mortem sperm retrieval process must be taken within 36 hours and requires a designated officer to declare that they believed the deceased wouldn’t object to the removal and the family had given consent.

An IVF specialist then has to assist with the retrieval.

“Sperm can only stay alive for a number of days after death, depending on the type of accident,” Ellidy told the podcast.

“We were so lucky that Chumpy’s sperm was alive and healthy when the doctor retrieved it.”

But it took six more months of grieving before Ellidy decided to try the IVF process.

Ellidy and Minnie Pullin. Photo: Instagram

It wasn’t because she was done grieving however, saying that despite Pullin’s death nearing its two year anniversary, she is “still in shock”.

“Obviously I will be grieving forever,” she said. “It’s not like I had accepted his death and that’s how I was able to proceed.

“One day I just thought ‘What am I waiting for? I’ve got the sperm. I want to have Chumpy’s baby and carry on our dream. I’m young, I’m healthy and I want to bring a piece of him back’.

“My grief is something I will deal with forever, but I will try and live a full life all the while missing him.”

Ellidy went through the Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) which involves a single sperm being injected into an egg, and said she was relieved that it worked on the second attempt.

But the birth of Minnie also threw up some conflicting emotions.

“It was two massive emotions at once. When they pulled her out I saw his eyes, I was euphoric. It was simultaneously the best and saddest moment,” she said.

“It’s said that grief is love that has nowhere to go. Having Minnie gives me something to love and cherish and protect. She’s not Chumpy, but I’ve got someone to put my love and energy into. She’s the best thing in the world. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

“I am very close to Chumpy’s family, even if I didn’t have Minnie we would remain close forever. We talk all the time. They have lost their son and there is such sadness in their eyes, but Minnie has given us all such happiness and is a living piece of memory.

“I want to forever be talking about him. I never want Chumpy to be gone. His family feels the same.”

Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin with Ellidy. Photo Supplied Instagram

The tragedy hasn’t eased for Ellidy either, losing her father earlier this week following a lengthy battle with brain cancer.

However, she is also not the only one as the 2014 Winter Olympic flag-bearer is still “a presence amongst the team” according to the snowboarding team.

“He obviously meant a lot to a whole lot of people and to the winter community in Australia as a whole,” former teammate Cam Bolton told reporters on Thursday.

“I was thinking about it this morning and I think that this team that we have here in Beijing for 2022 is still so heavily affected by Chumpy, but in a positive way.

“Everyone has had so much positive interaction with Chumpy, so much advice, so much knowledge shared.

“A lot of what Chumpy stood for and what Chumpy was about — and some of those lessons he was able to pass on to other athletes — will be very much alive here in 2022 in Beijing and I think it will be helping the team.”