When Dariusz Narowski of Higganum was advised by his doctor he’d need to undergo a surgical procedure to address heart troubles that had left him short of breath and unable to exercise, he hesitated for only one reason: he didn’t want to miss his daughter’s wedding.

“I think the exact words my dad said to Dr. Robinson were, ‘I’m only doing this if I can dance at my daughter’s wedding,'” says Gabriela Narowska.

“Dr. Robinson” is Dr. Peter Robinson, of UConn Health’s Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center, who diagnosed a narrowing in one of Dariusz’s arteries and put in a stent to relieve it.

“After he did the stent for me, one week later I feel better and better and better, and I said ‘Hey, maybe we can do this,'” Dariusz remembers.

And they did: After Gabriela said “I do” last June, she and her father cut a rug to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best,” with Dariusz gliding and spinning around the dancefloor, any signs of a recent heart procedure invisible to the guests at the wedding.

“It makes you feel good that you’re really able to help,” Dr. Robinson says.