A 28-year-old gay man named Cameron Robinson was one of the 59 people who were killed in the massacre in Las Vegas on Sunday (1 October).

CNN reporter Anderson Cooper spoke on Wednesday to Robinson’s partner, Bobby Eardley, who was hit with shrapnel, but survived the shooting.

Eardley praised Robinson, who was his partner for four years.

‘I just cannot say enough amazing things about that man,’ Eardley told Cooper. ‘He’s such an example to everyone that he ever came in contact in his life. He had such rough background where he came from. So many trials and tribulations in his life, but he always, always strived to be better. He never stopped. He built such an amazing life for himself.’

Robinson and Eardley lived together in St. George, Utah, but Robinson commuted 100 miles each day to his job as a management analysist with the city of Las Vegas.

Robinson was especially helpful with getting Eardley’s family to accept his sexual orientation.

‘When I came out four years ago, I didn’t know how it was all going to go with my family,’ Eardley said. ‘I knew they were accepting, but it took someone as special as Cameron to be able to open eyes for everyone and just learn love and acceptance. I’m so grateful to him for that and for an example that he was for not only me and my family and my kids. He was such a strong, strong person.’

As for the harrowing time on Sunday after the Robinson was shot, Eardley held him and stayed with him.

‘I just wanted to make sure that he knew that he wasn’t alone in those moments and I held him and talked to him the whole time,’ Eardley said, ‘I know he wasn’t the only victim and I know that so many other people are going through exactly what I’m going through and my heart goes out to every single one of them. I really want to just make sure that the heroes of the situation are also noticed.’

Eardley described two strangers who performed CPR on Robinson and another man on the way to the hospital. He said he does not even know the strangers’ names, but he was very grateful to them.

Watch the video here:

Bobby Eardley's partner died in Las Vegas: “I just can not say enough amazing things about that man." https://t.co/Xw1gTMa5ef — Meg Wagner (@megwagner) October 4, 2017

Eardley’s mother, Joyce Eardley, told the New York Daily News that her son’s boyfriend was an upbeat man.

‘[Cameron Robinson] loved people and to serve people – he was a character, he had us all laughing,’ Joyce Eardley said. ‘We could be in the dumps and then he’d have us all in laughter. A great loss of a great man.’

Eardley’s friend Valerie Alvey set up a GoFundMe page to pay for Robinson’s funeral. As of this publication, 626 people have donated to that fund which has raised more than $26,000 (€22,200, £19,800).