Imagine you’ve just arrived for the trip of a lifetime.
The kind of trip where you take a deep breath, look around, and think, “We’re finally here.”
That was Torben and Birgitte.
For them, their dream journey began with a long-awaited flight from Denmark to Canada. Their first stop, the stunning sights of Niagara Falls. They had just enjoyed beautiful views, a delicious lunch, and that peaceful happiness that comes from being far from daily routines and responsibilities.
But in a single moment, everything changed.
On a short walk to a nearby shop, Torben, who is normally fit and active, began to feel unusually tired. Not the kind of tired one can shake off with a deep breath, but a slow, heavy exhaustion washing over him.
When they reached the shop and stepped inside, Torben searched for a place to sit but there was none. So, he lay down on the floor. That was the moment Birgitte knew something was very wrong.
The store staff and shoppers rushed over to help. Torben insisted he didn’t need an ambulance, he just needed a moment. But then the exhaustion turned into pain, and the staff called 911.
While Birgitte spoke with the dispatcher from a back room, answering questions as calmly as she could, Torben suddenly cried out for her. The fear in his voice told her everything her heart already knew.
When the paramedics arrived, they quickly moved Birgitte aside.
Torben’s heart had stopped.
They began compressions and used the defibrillator. His heart started… and then stopped again. They shocked him again. And again. Birgitte could only watch, helpless, as the world she knew began to collapse.
Torben was rushed to the nearest hospital while Birgitte had to find her own way there, navigating fear, confusion, and disbelief in a city, and country, she didn’t know. At the hospital, she waited behind a curtain, hearing every urgent command, every change in tone, every long silence… and then, once again, his heart stopped.
Doctors insisted Torben needed to be transferred immediately to Hamilton General Hospital, however, Birgitte couldn’t go with him in the ambulance. She would need to take a taxi, alone, an hour away… the whole time praying the man she loved would still be alive when she arrived.
At Hamilton General, doctors discovered a 99% blockage in a major artery; the most serious kind. Torben had been placed in a medically induced coma while they worked to save his life. Birgitte was left to wait, and hope, with no idea how long that wait would last.
She had no family in Canada. No familiar faces. No one to hold her hand.
Until someone told her about The Mark Preece Family House.
Although exhausted and frightened when she arrived, the moment Birgitte walked through the doors of ‘the House’, she felt something she hadn’t felt in days; relief.
There was a warm meal waiting. A quiet room to breathe. Volunteers and staff who welcomed her with kindness. And other families who understood what fear feels like when it sits heavy in your chest.
Birgitte later said she felt like she had been given a “stand-in family.”
Torben remained in the coma for two days. Two days of questioning whether he would wake, and if he did, whether any damage had been done. Two days of wondering whether she would be explaining everything that had happened…or saying goodbye.
When Torben finally opened his eyes, Birgitte told him everything. He was overwhelmed to learn all that had taken place, and deeply grateful to know that Birgitte had been cared for so completely during the darkest moments of their lives.
Eight days after being admitted, Torben was discharged from the hospital and was able to visit The Mark Preece Family House himself. He was moved by the warmth, protection, and community it provided, and grateful for the people who had stood beside his wife when he could not.
Torben’s recovery will take time, but they are profoundly thankful he is alive. They know they will look back on this trip to Canada not just as the place where everything went wrong, but as the place where strangers became family, where compassion stepped in, and where hope survived.