“Are you sure it’s him?”
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It was the first thing Chantelle Brown said to the police as they stood at her front door telling her that her partner had died.
Adrian Heber, a 33-year-old Lavington man, was killed instantly in a fatal workplace accident on Thursday.
Miss Brown, who is also 17 weeks pregnant with the couple’s child, has been left devastated by the loss.
Mr Hebert went to work for steel fabrication company SJ and TA Structural on August 18 like any normal day.
He was stacking metal on a job site when he was crushed between two staircases.
“He wasn’t doing anything wrong, it was just a simple accident,” Miss Brown’s mother, Donna Tyler, said.
Miss Brown was born and raised in Wagga and still considers the city as home.
She has family and friends in Wagga who have supported her since Mr Heber’s death.
The family moved to Tarcutta when Miss Brown was a teenager but Mrs Tyler said her daughter never quite warmed to it.
“To her, Wagga was home,” she said.
Miss Brown and Mr Heber shared five daughters and step-daughters.
Miss Brown has Makaila King, five, from a previous relationship and Isabella-Rose, 11 months, with Mr Heber.
She also helped look after Mr Heber’s three daughters from a previous relationship.
“She treated them all the same,” Mrs Tyler said.
The couple had been together for three-and-a-half years and had discussed the possibility of marriage.
They were preparing to find out the sex of their baby in three weeks.
Mrs Tyler said seeing workplace accidents reported in the news never fully prepares you for when it happens to someone you know.
“For me, I used to see it on television and I feel for these people,” she said.
“I never dreamed it would happen in my family.
“It’s pretty horrific.”
Miss Brown has been supported by her mother and siblings as she prepares for life after Mr Heber.
The family have vowed to remain at her side for as long as she needs.
Her eldest sister, Angela Godden, lives in Wagga and started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the family via www.gofundme.com/2khag7wx.
Miss Brown has been overwhelmed at the response from friends, family and Mr Heber’s employees, who have also been left devastated by the loss.
“They never had anything fancy, they were just battlers,” Mrs Tyler said.
“She doesn’t care about money but she’s quite excited to see what people are writing.”
Miss Brown will use the money to pay for bills and items for the new baby.
Mr Heber’s work mates will form a guard of honour at his funeral on Friday at 2pm in Wodonga.