Hardworking dad-of-five suddenly drops dead aged 48 as heartbroken fiancé relives his horror final moments
A heartbroken fiancé has spoken of the devastating moment when she heard a ‘horrific noise’ before discovering that her fit and healthy 48-year-old partner had suffered a fatal heart attack.
David Darling lived with fiancé Jess Thorne and their five children aged ten, five, four, two and sixteen months in the Western Australian mining town of Boddington, 170 km southeast of Perth.
After what a coroner ruled was a ‘massive heart attack’, Mr Darling collapsed into a lotus position while showering on the morning of 28 July.
Ms Thorne said the couple had visited their GP for a check-up just three days earlier and there were no signs that anything was wrong.
David Darling (pictured right with fiancé Jess Thorne) died suddenly of a massive heart attack last month
“He was just the same as always, laughing and joking and full of life,” she told the Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
“Nothing was different, there were no signs that it was just happening.
“How on earth could this happen to someone who did everything right?”
The day he died, Mr. Darling intended to do nothing more than grocery shopping and other “just normal things.”
However, that morning Ms Thorne, 39, was awakened by ‘a horrifying sound’ which she described as ‘almost a wail and gurgle at the same time’.
“I shot up in bed,” Mrs. Thorne said.
“I looked back, he was gone.”
Mrs. Thorne heard water running in the shower, but there was no response when she knocked on the closed door, causing her to yell at Mr. Darling.
Mrs. Thorne became increasingly frantic and managed to break open the bathroom door with a butter knife.
Mr. Darling, who was only 48 at the time of his death, was an avid fisherman who loved to involve his children
“When I looked down, he was staring right back at me,” Mrs. Thorne said.
Mr. Darling stood cross-legged on the shower floor.
Unfortunately, her three eldest children also watched what happened, until she managed to herd them into the living room away from the traumatic sight.
Mrs Thorne desperately performed CPR on Mr Darling and paramedics took over 35 minutes later but all attempts to revive him were futile.
Ms Thorne said Mr Darling’s only health problem was type 2 diabetes, but he was handling it exceptionally well.
“We ate a lot of healthy food to make sure the kids had really good role models,” she said.
She said he was extremely fit.
“He was very into martial arts and was always practicing with the kids how our TV broke,” she said.
Mr Thorne (pictured right) is left to care for the couple’s five children after the shocking death of her partner
Ms Thorne said the family was still very much in shock.
‘Were broken. We’re broken,” Mrs. Thorne said.
“The kids understand that Dad isn’t coming back.
“My youngest, after it happened, looked at the toys she and her dad were playing with and she doesn’t want to touch it anymore.
“It’s so hard to convince my boys to get out of the car and into the house.”
Mrs. Thorne and Mr Darling met while working as a police officer in the Northern Territory in May 2010.
They have been engaged since that same year’s Melbourne Cup Day and were due to marry in December.
“We loved fishing and traveling to discover new places,” Mrs. Thorne said.
‘From Darwin we moved to Broome and then Queensland and we came back to the Pilbara and then we went to Perth and finally to Boddington.
“We were just looking forward to doing extensions to the house.”
Mr Darling and Mrs Thorne were due to marry at the end of this year, having been engaged since Melbourne Cup day 2010
“We had a piece of heaven that we wanted to make our own. Create something that was ours.’
To help pay for Mr. Darling’s funeral on September 5 and other expenses, Mrs. Thorne is a GoFundMe page.
“As David was our main breadwinner while I raised our young children at home, his sudden passing has not only left a giant hole in everyone’s heart,” she wrote.
“But it also brings with it the unfortunate reality of having to fund a funeral at short notice, in addition to our normal day-to-day needs.”
By Tuesday night, the page had raised just over $2,000 of its $8,500 goal.
Mr. Darling was described as a hard-working breadwinner and family man to his five children
“My David was a family man, a hardworking breadwinner and a friend who did a lot,” Mrs. Thoren wrote.
“He always took care of anyone in need and helped in any way he could, that was just who he was! So now I’m here asking for help for the first time in my life.’
Mrs. Thorne said that once she finds her own legs again after Mr. Darling’s funeral, she will try to get a job at the mine.
Until then, every day still brings painful memories of her loss, even something as mundane as a set of kettlebell weights.
“We strength train six, sometimes seven days a week,” she says
“We fell in love with it and it was our passion, which is really hard because every day I walk into the bedroom and they’re all lined up where we’re done with them.”