Heartbreaking London Wedding
This is an image I took of Carly whilst getting ready for her sister Jodie’s wedding in central London. Calm and collected and looking forward to a day of joy and celebration seeing Jodie marry Alfie as Maid of Honour. Little did any of us know that just a few minutes after the image above was taken and a few seconds after the image below was taken, Carly was to suffer a Cardiac arrest. Just moments after Jodie arrived at the top of the aisle and at the moment the registrar welcomed everyone, Carly collapsed. Now weddings and families are both known for their drama but this was on a different scale. And not one that I would wish on anyone, least of all on their wedding day. What followed was a mixture of shock, panic and confusion as it soon became clear that this was serious. Suddenly the room went from being full of excited and bubbly guests ready for the ceremony to a room full of worry, concern and general helplessness (is that a word?). The only noises were now the shrieks for help and the blind panic of finding someone qualified to help.
This is why I am writing this on here. None of Jodies wedding images have appeared on here previously because the wedding didn’t happen. The day stopped. Their lives changed forever right there and then and and it was a stark reminder of how vunerable we all are. It is real life and it has no boundaries. Whether you are sitting on the sofa at home watching your latest box set or you are dressed up to the nines, looking glamorous and spectacular you are as vunerable without the correct support and education.
This week the British Heart Foundation launched their ‘Restart a Heart’ campaign, and in conjunction with this Carly and Jodie have been helping to spread the word about the importance of us all to be educated in this area as to what we need to do. They have been on BBC TV on both the Victoria Derbyshire program and on BBC London News as well as being featured in the national press both here in the UK and overseas. It even reached Australia according to one of my Google kick back notifications!. What more of an example do any of us need to ensure that we get behind this fully and ensure we too are prepared, should the eventuality ever happen. It goes without saying that we all hope it doesn’t but were it not for some of Carly’s family members having recently undergone the correct training at work, we may have been telling an altogether more tragic story.
Carly, Jodie and their Father Marco have set up a foundation to help raise money and awareness to support this cause, so if you are suddenly feeling that you could probably do without those almond favours that no-one will eat at your wedding and you would actually prefer to donate to something far more useful the link is here:
http://www.carlyhearttrust.com/
And even if you cannot donate, then please think about getting yourself First Aid trained. It could be the best bloody wedding favour ever!
The full story can be read here:
Share this story
