WITH VIDEO: 'My first Father’s Day since I died'

Brad Carver was dancing a choreographed duet with his daughter, Emily, at her wedding reception when he died.

Carver crashed to the floor as Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” played on.

A family member began performing CPR.

Then a wedding photographer grabbed a nearby defibrillator.

With the help of a firefighter, they resuscitated the 62-year-old father of the bride.

“I practiced so many times and I’ve never felt dizzy — but then I collapsed during the dance,” Carver said.

He was rushed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, joined by his wife, Mary.

But Carver didn’t have a heart attack. Carver had three blockages around his heart.

SMH Cardiovascular Surgery Chief Dr. Jeffrey Sell said Carver had enough blockages to make his heart irritable.

“Then it went into a very bad sudden-death type of rhythm,” Sell said. “Fortunately, people were able to shock him out of it, which is why everybody needs to know CPR and how to use a defibrillator. He got to the hospital without having had a heart attack.”

Carver later underwent triple bypass surgery to clear the blocked blood vessels.

“When people have the bypass operation, they’re more likely to live longer and less likely to have a heart attack,” Sell said. “He did beautifully and went home in a few days and is now in cardiac rehab doing great.”

Alverez said she’s grateful her father had his medical episode when he did.

“It was meant to be,” she said. “Had this happened to him while he was driving or at home alone, he may not be here.”

Alvarez is glad she selected a venue with a defibrillator in plain sight at the reception hall — especially because her father had no chest pain or warnings other than being lightheaded while dancing.

Her aunt grabbed it and gave it to the wedding photographer, who has medical training.

“It’s sudden death. It’s real and is a scary thing,” Sell said. “But, it can be taken care of if handled quickly and it was in this case.”

Emily Alvarez and her father rehearsed the 3-minute dance for about 10 hours — beginning with the song “Butterfly Kisses,” then transitioning into Taylor Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down.”

They watched a tutorial of the dance and practiced for hours.

“There’s a part of the song when you point to the ground, and that’s when my dad fell down,” Alvarez said. “He hit his head and started bleeding. I’m sure that’s when people realized this was not part of the dance.”

The families appreciate those who made the day extra special, including Kord Webb, a Venice firefighter/EMT, a distant relative, along with wedding photographer Stacy Boyce, of Evoke Photo and Film, who used their lifesaving skills to save Carver.

“This Father’s Day will be my first Father’s Day since I died,” Carver said.

Alvarez, 29, who met her husband, Jayson, at the University of South Florida, spent the week after the wedding visiting Carver in the hospital.

“The doctors and nurses were amazing,” Alverez said. “My mother was calm through this... The hospital made everything really comforting for our whole family.”

The newlyweds, Jayson and Emily, did get to go on a honeymoon after the medical scare. They plan to celebrate Father’s Day with her parents at Mattison’s Restaurant in Sarasota, which catered the wedding.

“We didn’t all get to eat together as planned,” Alverez said. “Father’s Day is three months to the day of the wedding on March 16. We plan to have a great day celebrating. I don’t know what I would do without him. It’s very much a miracle he is still with us.”