Bride Collapses And Dies In Husband’s Arms An Hour After Her Wedding
Posted February 11, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a story that’s almost too sad to contemplate and one that seems impossible to fathom. It began January 19th in the city of Davie, Florida when Kim Sjostrom finally got to live out her long cherished dream. She used the film ” My Big Fat Greek Wedding” as the template for her own nuptials and her union to a man named Teddy Efkarpides.
The ceremony went off without a hitch and the duo was pronounced man and wife, as the procession switched from a church chapel to the party that followed. But when the first grade teacher got up for her post-wedding dance with her husband, something terrible happened.
Sjostrom complained of feeling lightheaded, a condition her 43-year-old hubby initially blamed on her being a diabetic. He was sure she’d be fine, but then his new wife suddenly collapsed in front of him, keeling over into his arms.
Relatives, friends and others all gathered around the stricken woman, trying to revive her, as paramedics were called. They rushed the bride, still in her wedding dress, to hospital but doctors were unable to save her. At the age of just 36 and married for about an hour, Sjostrom was dead.
Now weeks later, Efkarpides is still trying to make sense of something beyond reason. He’s left with his memories of their three years together and a document she gave him at Christmas entitled “The 101 Reasons Why I Love You.”
It’s now become a heartbreaking reminder of a journey that had just begun but which was cut short too soon. There are many notations on her list, but it’s the one at number 98 that leaves Efkarpides speechless with sadness. It reads simply, “You’re the one I want to grow old with.”
Her funeral was held on January 23rd, just four days after the couple exchanged their vows.
