Big Fat Greek wedding ends in tragedy

It was July 7,2007 and I was attending a wedding that my parents were unable to attended(they had gone to Greece for the summer).  My dad had a friend who lived in the same town as he did has also come to Toronto and settle to build a family. His son was getting married and I had gone to represent the family for this event.

It was a little bit of an awkward celebration not knowing anyone, on the bright side I was going to make lots of new friends.

The church services  went very well and we then head to the evening ceremony which was held at a banquet hall in Vaughn,Ontario. 

We were excited to get the festivities started from having the bride and groom having their first dance to enjoy the music of evening. I participated in the most of the Greek dancing that happened throughout the night.

As  the evening went on everyone was enjoying themselves and having great conversations, enjoying the great desert the evening weather.

At around 10;00pm I had gone outside to get some fresh air and had struck up a conversation with a attendee from a wedding that was happening next door with a African theme. We had a brief conversation and we headed back to our respectable parties.

As I entered the hall I noticed the grooms father (my dad’s friend) and he was sweating profusely, I didn’t cause alarm at the time, everyone was dancing and having a good time. 

Within the fifteen minutes  the situation changed drastically. He had all of sudden passed out and fell to floor, within 10 feet where I was  standing. Pandemonium broke out!  There were 3 people trying to do CPR and people were screaming and yelling. Someone had called 911 and it seem forever for the ambulance to arrive.

Being in Vaughn the ambulance seemed it to take forever, few of the attendees had gone out to street level to direct  the ambulance toward the entrance. 

The chaos continued with people pushing each other trying to give the groom father cpr but not success. He was foaming at the mouth and turning purple. By the time the ambulance  and police arrived time was not on their side. The bride has done into shock and fainted and few other attendees were not  feeling well. 

I was more in shock than anything else due to fact just a few hours ago I was talking to him and he w

as pleased that I come to the wedding. 

The ambulance attendants put him on the stretcher and wisked him away. I was not sure what to do or who to call. 

I had a good friend who was nurse at Sunnybrook Hospital and I called her and she was able to listen and help me calm down from the shock.

It was a very frightening event to see that happen so quickly at event that should have been an occasion of  have fun, enjoying the music and the evening.

 About a week later I found out that he did not survive the impending heart attack that he had. It turns out that he was ordered by his doctor to take some new drugs and get some new test done for his regular check up and he had refused for reason unknown.