Bride-to-be paralysed in tragic pool accident to finally marry a year later
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<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> 'I'm at peace with it': Bride-to-be paralysed in tragic pool accident at her bachelorette party to finally marry a year later
Friend who caused freak accident by shoving her into pool will still be her bridesmaid
Her father will push her wheelchair down the aisle as she weds man of her dreams
A bride-to-be who was paralysed after her friend pushed her into a swimming pool at her bachelorette party 14 months ago will finally get to say 'I do.' Rachelle Friedman, 25, from Knightdale, North Carolina, will wear the same gown she had chosen for the first ceremony, but her father will push her wheelchair down the aisle instead of walking her down it, arm-in-arm. And the friend who shoved her into the shallow pool, causing her to hit the concrete bottom and paralysing her, will still be at her side as a bridesmaid at the wedding on Friday.
The 25-year-old has stuck by her friend and refused to reveal her identity even as newspapers, television and Internet sites carried the story around the world. As a tailor altered her strapless, simple wedding dress to fit her new, thinner body, Miss Friedman refused to blame her bridesmaid. She said: 'She was tragically hurt, mentally and emotionally. And I was tragically hurt, physically.
'It's harder to deal with when you're hurt emotionally sometimes than when you're hurt physically.'
Miss Friedman was injured while celebrating with her friends in Virginia Beach, Virginia on May 23, 2010, a month before she was supposed to be married. After being pushed into the pool, she awkwardly hit the cement bottom.
She knew immediately something was wrong. 'I instantly just stopped moving,' Miss Friedman said. She floated to the top, face up. Her friends were already in the water to help. 'This isn't a joke,' she told them. 'Call 911.' The horseplay was no different from the way her friends had fooled around many times before, she said. Miss Friedman refuses to even call the act a prank because that would imply some devious intent.
Now, Mr Chapman worries about keeping her active. He's learning to referee at wheelchair rugby, and she's trying to get a hand cycle so they can bicycle together. She also wants to learn wheelchair tennis.
Before she was injured, Miss Friedman was a program coordinator at a senior centre in Raleigh. While the job didn't pay a lot, she felt blessed to be employed right out of college, to own a home with the man of her dreams and to be planning their wedding. She often visits the senior centre where she used to work and does whatever exercises she can at home. She has finished a round of rehab, but is considering more advanced treatment. The Beatles fan wants a tattoo of the peace sign drawn on the back of her neck, at the centre, marking her injury. Underneath will be inked, 'Let It Be.' 'It symbolises that I'm at peace with it,' she said.