A beloved CrossFit fitness coach and his father tragically died in Puerto Rico after saving the coach’s wife who was swept away in a rip current as they were spreading a relative’s ashes in the sea.
Damian Walker, 33, gave the “ultimate sacrifice” when he died saving his wife’s life on March 3, according to an Instagram post from the Wildfire CrossFit gym in Phoenix, Arizona.
Walker had traveled to the island to spread the ashes of his paternal grandfather, who died last year. When his wife, Salmeh, was caught up in rip current, he immediately dove in after her but got stuck in the tide himself.
“Damian jumped in, as he 100% lived his life with that hero mentality, ‘I’m just gonna go in and save them’,” Tiffany Divelbiss, co-owner of Wildfire CrossFit, told KPHO.
The coach’s father, Luis Walker, then jumped in to help his son and daughter-in-law but was swept out to sea and also drowned. His body has still not been recovered.
“[Damian] would be proud of the way things happened. He always wanted to be a superhero, and in the end, that’s the way it ended up,” said Skip Divelbiss.
Salmeh took to her late husband’s instagram and announced his death last week in a heartbreaking post.
“My heart and soul, my loving husband has left this earth. My better half I love and miss you so much,” she wrote in the caption below a photo of the couple on a beach together.
The CrossFit gym, where Walker worked as a coach for 10 years, is celebrating what would have been his 34th birthday on April 2 with a celebration of life in which athletes will do a “hero workout” of Walker’s favorite exercises.
“That’s the cool legacy, inspiration that we’re all holding onto to be able to heal through this heartbreak,” Tiffany Divelbiss said.
As of Wednesday evening, over $30,000 had been raised in support of his funeral expenses and grieving family.
“Damian had such a huge heart and a huge, positive impact on everyone there and anyone who Damian touched with his loving and caring heart,” his obituary says. “Damian so loved life, he loved the ocean, had a huge heart for animals of all kinds and most of all, Damian loved his wife Salmeh with all that he had and more.”