As Carly Williams, 34, walked down the aisle as maid of honour at her sister Jodie’s wedding, she smiled happily at the guests around her.
Carly had worked hard to help Jodie, 28, organise the day and so far, everything was perfect.
Except, when Carly reached the end of the aisle something went terribly wrong.
She has no recollection of feeling light headed, or collapsing.
‘Apparently I said I was dizzy and I thought I might faint,’ Carly told the UK’s BBC. ‘I sat down with my head in the other bridesmaid’s lap.’
When Carly failed to stand when the bride made her way down the aisle, everyone knew it was serious.
One of the guests trained in first aid realised Carly’s heart had stopped and began CPR.
The hotel hosting the wedding had a defibrillator but staff weren’t trained in using it.
Luckily, two of Carly and Jodie’s cousins had also done first–aid courses and knew what to do.
‘They shocked me and it worked – I had a pulse but still wasn’t conscious,’ Carly says.
Jodie cancelled the wedding, sending all 115 guests home, and rushed to Carly’s side at hospital.
‘I had been worrying that this was Carly worrying about the wedding that had brought this on,’ Jodie says.
But Carly, who has now made a full recovery, realises that had she been anywhere other than her sister’s wedding she might not have survived the cardiac arrest.
‘The chances of this happening in a room with three first–aid trained people and a defibrillator are so slim,’ Carly says.
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