Friend who caused freak
accident by shoving her into pool will still be her
bridesmaid
Her father will push her down
the aisle to wed man who waited for her to heal
A bride-to-be who was
paralysed after her friend pushed her into a swimming pool at her
hen 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.
Finally saying 'I do':
Rachelle Friedman, seen here trying on her wedding dress, was
paralysed after a freak accident that postponed her wedding
plans
Steadfast friend: The
25-year-old has refused to reveal the identity of the bridesmaid
that shoved her into a pool, an accident that left her in a
wheelchair
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.
Adjusting to change: Miss
Friedman has learned how to play wheelchair rugby and uses her
knuckles instead of her fingers for texting and responding to
email
'People look at it like this
is something that happened to me, but it happened to both of us,'
she said of her friend.
Neither she nor her fiancé,
Chris Chapman, ever considered deserting the other. They'd been
together for almost five years when the accident
happened.
'It was not, "What am I going
to do?'" said Mr Chapman, 28, a middle school science teacher. 'It
was, "What are we doing to do?" I just didn't know what to do next.
It was one step at a time.'
The two grew up in Virginia
Beach, but didn't meet until they were both students at East
Carolina University in Greenville, becoming close friends while
each dated other people. Once they started dating, he fell in love
with her energy and personality.
'She was always positive,
always upbeat, always ready to do something,' he
said.
Before the accident:
Rachelle Friedman poses with fiancé Chris Chapman. The couple will
be married on Friday
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 programme co-ordinator 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.
