Fan’s sudden death Family mourns Coast mechanic
AT 44, Nicolas Pedreira had just worked out what life was “all about”.
With a successful business, two small children, a loving partner, a nice house and a football team on track to play its first grand final in half a century, life couldn’t get much better for the keen Gold Coast long-boarder.
But after planning a trip to Melbourne to watch his beloved Western Bulldogs play Hawthorn, the Victorianraised South American was found dead on Friday September 16, believed to be from a heart attack.
Mr Pedreira’s partner Samantha Paul says she is still in shock, having spoken with him the night before he was found dead.
“With the Bulldogs making it into the preliminary finals, he wanted to go down and see them.
“He thought he’d take a few more days and see everyone in Melbourne.
“I stayed to be with the kids … I said ‘go and have a good holiday’. Every morning he texted us or called us.
“I thought he must have had a really big hangover because he was with his friends.
“His brother knocked on the door at three in the afternoon and found him dead on the couch.
“He wasn’t a party animal … he was a completely devoted father. “He was a workaholic.” Ms Paul said Mr Pedreira didn’t generally drink or smoke and rose at 4.30am for the gym each day before going to work as a mechanic at the couple’s business, Ntech Mekanix – a venture he had built from the ground up in only a few years.
“He was just the most loving father,” she said.
“He was so stressed at work … but he’d open up the door and see the kids and his face would light up.
“Years ago I remember him crying to me on the phone.
“We had children and he said ‘this is what it’s all about’.
“He just loved his children so much.
“Everything he did was for his babies. He didn’t even have a will and I’m an accountant. He was so fit and healthy.”
Ms Paul said Mr Pedreira had travelled around the world and even lived in Argentina for a period of time but always said nothing compared to the Queensland coast.
The tradesman moved 10 years ago after a holiday to visit his brother and parents who had already settled on the Gold Coast.
His ashes will be spread at Currumbin Beach – his favourite break – after a ceremony at his home in Mudgeeraba tomorrow.
Ms Paul says she hopes to foster the same love for the Western Bulldogs in her children that their father had right up until his death.
“The fact that they’ve made it to the finals is heartbreaking,” she said.
“We were supposed to go down to the Sydney game.
“He got all this Bulldogs stuff for the kids.
“I don’t want to get it out … I don’t want them to resent the Bulldogs.”