A mother-of-two who started the new year with an engagement is now picking up the pieces after losing the love of her life to suicide.
Ashlee Bunker, 35, from Bribie Island in Queensland, got engaged in February after her long-term partner Joe Bloomfield, 42, popped the question.
Mrs. Bunker woke up to an engagement ring on her bedside table and a note from Mr. Bloomfield asking her to marry him.
But disaster struck the following week when Mr Bloomfield suddenly and unexpectedly took his own life on February 26 – before Mrs Bunker had even had time to resize the ring.
Two days beforehand, they were shopping for wedding dresses and starting preparations for the big day, scheduled for August 31.
A heartbroken Ms Bunker told Daily Mail Australia she wished Bloomfield had asked for help when he needed it most.
Ashlee Bunker, 35, from Bribie Island in Queensland, got engaged to her long-term partner Joe Bloomfield, 42, in February
Days after their engagement, Mr. Broomfield took his own life before Mrs. Bunker even had time to resize the engagement ring
“No one has ever loved me as much as him, I don’t even know how I’ll remember him because the truth is I just want him back,” she said.
‘This came out of the blue, we had a great time together and I wish he had asked for help.
“He was literally the happiest person I knew and he just loved everyone. So much so that I think he forgot to live himself.
“It’s so important to be kind to people and appreciate people for who they are.”
Shortly after the two met in July 2021, they began running a property maintenance business, fixing up homes together.
Since Mr Bloomfield’s death, Mrs Bunker has been caring for her daughters, Ellie, 12, and Annaliese, 10, while she looks for new work.
“I lost him and my job,” she said.
“My children lost the best stepfather I could ever ask for.”
The pair met in July 2021 before starting a business together
Ms. Bunker and Mr. Broomfield were scheduled to marry on August 31, 2024
A close friend of the couple, Simone Angus, launched one GoFundMe in the aftermath of Mr. Bloomfield’s death, which raised more than $7,000.
The money was used to cover funeral costs and provide financial support to Mrs Bunker, who was left ‘completely heartbroken’.
Ms Bunker and Mr Bloomfield shared many happy memories together online and always tagged each other in their own posts.
Last June, the couple visited Italy and took photos in front of the Trevi Fountain, prompting a friend to comment that they looked like a “Hollywood couple.”
“More glamorous than Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni,” they wrote under Bloomfield’s new profile photo.
In the photo, Mr Broomfield is wearing a blue Bondi Beach shirt which Ms Bunker said was his favourite.
Since his death, Mrs. Bunker has said he had two other spare parts of the shirt that she and her children now sometimes sleep in to remember him.
To book their trip to Italy, Mr Bloomfield shared a photo of the Bácaro Jazz Bar in Venice, where it is the norm for customers to leave a memento of their time there.
Mr Bloomfield and Mrs Bunker signed one of her bras which were left at the bar to commemorate the trip and express their love.
“Ashlee Bunker is now immortalized… If you ever come here, check out this bar, enjoy a cold post and give up your bra,” he wrote in the caption.
The loving couple visited Italy together in June 2023 and regularly posted about each other online
To bookend their trip, Mr Bloomfield shared a photo from Venice’s Bácaro Jazz Bar of a memento the couple left behind
Mrs. Bunker also said that the note Mr. Bloomfield left by her bedside simply read, “Will you marry me?”
“You knew my answer was always yes, but you just enjoyed asking me. I guess you knew this was your last chance to ask,” she wrote.
‘I adjusted the size and can finally wear it. It’s beautiful, you chose well.’
Ms Bunker is still not coming to grips with what happened and said the couple had so much to look forward to.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you would choose to give up your entire life at that moment. You had so much life left to live,” she wrote on Facebook.
‘We were looking forward to our cruise for your birthday. We had a surprise wedding in August. All you wanted was to be able to call me your wife, and now that can never happen again.
“I will wear the ring every day and I know it will be the last thing I ever get from you.”
Lifeline 13 11 14
Suicide call service 1300 659 46
Ms Bunker said she has lost the love of her life and her job since the tragedy
Thanks to a fundraising campaign set up by a family friend, Mrs Bunker was able to pay for Mr Broomfield’s funeral costs