After a bride’s dad collapsed at her wedding during a father-daughter dance, quick-thinking guests rushed to perform CPR—potentially saving his life.
On March 16, 2024, Emily and Jayson Alvarez were married at the Edson Keith Mansion in Philippi Estate Park in Sarasota, Florida.
After the ceremony, Ms. Alvarez and her father, Brad Carver, began the traditional father-daughter dance. However, about a minute into performing their choreographed routine—set to ‘You Need to Calm Down’ by Taylor Swift—Mr. Carver suddenly collapsed.
Shocked, Ms. Alvarez took a step back.
“I just couldn’t believe it—it obviously wasn’t part of our dance moves,” she said. “I did see the look on his face, and that’s what scared me.”
Kord Webb—Mr. Carver’s niece’s husband—administered CPR with photographer Stay Boyce while a friend of the groom controlled bleeding from Mr. Carver’s head.
A member of staff from Mattison’s Catering ran to get the Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) from the mansion’s kitchen.
AED is a medical device designed to analyze the heart rhythm and deliver an electric shock to victims of ventricular fibrillation to restore the heart rhythm to normal.
“I would say he regained consciousness and color within maybe 15 seconds of that shock–it was very fast,” Mr. Boyce said.
Before long, an ambulance arrived at the wedding venue.
“He was alert and responsive once he got on the gurney to get to the hospital and once the paramedics arrived,” Ms. Alvarez said. “He was talking, and I think making a joke, so the light was there.”
The family continued with the reception, however, everyone who witnessed the incident continued to pray for Mr. Carver, who was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital to receive triple bypass surgery.
Although Mr. Carver did not suffer a heart attack, he did have a cardiac arrest.
“He had a lot of blockages, and his heart developed an irregular rhythm due to demand exceeding the ability to supply enough blood through the blocked areas,” said Jeffery Sell, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Ms. Alvarez took to Facebook to share about the incident, writing, “A miracle happened.”
Since the incident, Mr. Carver has advocated for CPR training and AED usage.
“Both of those things saved my life,” he said.
Ms. Alvarez remains forever grateful for the interventions that occurred that day.
“I don’t know what I would’ve done if he wasn’t given a second chance at life,” she said. “Thank you, God, for saving his head and for saving his heart.”
