By Christine Yunn-Yu Sun
A review of Heartstrong: Chumpy, Minnie and Me by Ellidy Pullin
Alex “Chumpy” Pullin, Australia’s two-time World Champion snowboarder who competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, passed away on July 8, 2020 at the age of 32. Heartstrong, written by Chumpy’s partner Ellidy, tells the heart-wrenching story of the loss of a beloved son, husband, father and athlete.
Ellidy confessed at one stage that “I was just a kid when I met [Chumpy], and a grown-ass woman when [he] left”. This transition is crystal clear in Heartstrong, which is divided into three sections – “The Before”, “The After” and “What Became”.
The Ellidy BEFORE was a wide-eyed innocent girl madly in love with the man that was “larger than life” and “beyond this world”: “He radiated at a higher level like he was from a different dimension to the rest of us. When you looked into his eyes, there was a depth that was other-worldly.”
The writing here is full of wonder and awe, every bit as genuine and straightforward as it is natural and heartfelt. It makes this reviewer wonder: Maybe we as readers are so used to subtle, sophisticated and stylish writing that raw emotions are considered “cringey”. Maybe we have become too “mature-minded” to remember how crazy, carefree and cheery we once were.
Perhaps thanks to the efforts of journalist, editor and ghostwriter Alley Pascoe, the voice of the Ellidy AFTER is drastically different. Once again the plain words convey the most complicated emotions, but these are the saddest. Instead of tears, the grief over the loss of Chumpy cuts so deep that it leaves his loved ones numb.
In Ellidy’s words: “My brain was working overtime to protect me. I couldn’t cope with the reality, so I disconnected from it altogether.”
In Chumpy’s father’s words: “None of it felt real, not even when [my wife] and I went to see
Chumpy’s body in the funeral home, not even when we discussed cremation, not even today. I don’t know if the reality will ever sink in.”
Some books are too sad to be read, and Heartstrong could have been one of them if the transition of Ellidy from a kid to a mother and insightful woman had not been explicitly explained. Through post-mortem sperm retrieval and IVF, Chumpy and Ellidy’s daughter Minnie was born in October 2021, fifteen months after his death.
In Ellidy’s words: “I don’t want people looking at [Minnie] and feeling sad that her amazing Dad isn’t with her physically. I want people to look at her and smile that she’s been made possible.” That is part of Chumpy’s legacy. Not only was he an everlasting inspiration to sportspeople across the world, but his fierce love and compassion for life helped bringing new purposes to people’s lives, making them want to honour him by being – and doing – better. With her honest and selfless sharing of loss and pain in this book, Ellidy encourages us to find growth through grief. She is continuing Chumpy’s legacy by being who she is today.
