Every father looks forward to the day he can walk his little girl down the aisle, give her away, and dance with her at her wedding reception. Unfortunately for one proud father, it turned out to be the last thing that he would ever do.
According to People, Tim Buchanan, a 54-year-old veteran detective with the York County Sheriff’s Department in Rock Hill, South Carolina, suffered from a heart attack just minutes after his father-daughter dance with his daughter, Michele Howard, at her wedding in Costa Rica on Saturday.
Tim’s wife, Jeni, broke the heartbreaking news to friends and family on her Facebook page (which can be seen below).
“He was the most beautiful soul I have ever known and I will never be the same without him,” Jeni wrote. “I know he loved me and our family. Over the years we raised four amazing children, cared for my little brothers when they needed us the most and had even had the honor of a beautiful grandchild.”
In addition to writing about her husband and their lives together, she shared a beautiful photo of the couple taken at their daughter’s wedding.
“I am so very grateful for this image of us that our dear friends snuck during our daughter’s wedding yesterday. Little did I know just a few hours later we would lose him,” Jeni, who is pictured with Tim below during their vow renewal ceremony in Paris in 2014, said of the photo.
A friend of the Buchanan’s set up a GoFundMe page for the family that has raised more than $12,000 over the past few days.
Jenn Lewis, the creator of the page, wrote, “Jeni and Tim were so excited to head to Costa Rica a few days ago for their daughter’s wedding. If you know Jeni, you know how much Tim means to her and how wonderful the love is that they share.”
See More: Father of the Bride Dies Just Days After Giving Away His Daughter in Hospital Wedding
The last line of Jeni’s Facebook post is the most gut-wrenching of all, reading, “For now, just pray. He was always the one to make us feel better when things went wrong so we need all the prayers we can get.”