Paralysed bride-to-be to marry in her wheelchair
-
'I'm at peace with it': Bride-to-be paralysed in pool accident at her hen party to marry a year later in her wheelchair
-
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.
-
-
bless this couple ~!!!! CONGRATZ~!!!
-
congratz
