My friend left me paralysed at my hen’s, but she was still in my bridal party

“I was instantly paralysed, and I could just tell it was permanent,” Rachelle recalled.

Rachelle was 24 years old when she got engaged; the life she had planned was all coming into place.

She had a fantastic job, had just purchased a house and was set to marry her high school sweetheart, the man of her dreams. 

But things quickly changed after a freak accident at her hen’s night, ultimately changing the trajectory of her life forever. 

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Woman paralysed weeks before wedding

It was 2010, and Rachelle had organised a bachelorette party with her closest friends. 

“It was time for my bachelorette party, and I was so excited,” she recalled in the clip. 

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The girls, including Rachelle’s bridesmaids and maid of honour, all went out for a night of dancing. Five weeks out from her wedding, she knew she had to have the party of a lifetime.  

The girls were dressed to the nines as they partied and celebrated the next chapter of the North Carolina woman’s life. 

“But after a fun night with friends, we came back to the house to go swimming,” she continued. 

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While they were dancing and partying around the water, Rachelle’s best friend pushed her into the pool. There was nothing malicious about it, Rachelle stressed, explaining that she had previously pushed her own friends into the water without any issues at all. 

But this time was different. 

Caught “off guard” by the “playful gesture”, Rachelle “landed head first in the shallow end”. 

“The push was in my upper back, and I ended up going head first into the shallow end, where I broke my neck,” she said, recalling hearing the sound of her neck cracking as she hit the tiles. 

As she lay on the floor of the shallow pool, she instantly knew her life was going to change forever. “I was instantly paralysed, and I could just tell it was permanent,” she said.

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Rachelle's life was forever changed after she was pushed into the pool by a friend. Picture: rachelles_wheels/TikTok

The next few months were harrowing for the American woman, who was told she “would never walk again”. She had sustained a spinal cord injury that left her paralysed from the chest down, even losing control of her hands. 

Rachelle spent the next few months undergoing several surgeries and rehabilitation sessions; she was permanently wheelchair-bound and had to re-learn how to be herself again. 

One year after the accident, Rachelle and her fiance were actually going to tie the knot. “In 2011, we became husband and wife,” she said in the clip. 

You may be asking: What about the girl who pushed her into the pool?

On the night of the incident, Rachelle and the other bridesmaids “shared an unspoken agreement to never reveal the name of the person who had pushed me,” per HuffPost. 

And despite causing life-changing injuries, Rachelle didn’t feel bitter about the accident. In fact, “the girl who pushed me was in my wedding”.

"I forgave the friend who pushed me right away," she said in an updated Instagram post. However, in a sad twist of fate, Rachelle revealed she and her friend are no longer on speaking terms after the friend said "hurtful things that they can’t take back". 

RELATED: ‘They told us she’d been in a bad swimming accident and she couldn’t feel her legs’

Rachelle now says "it’s all about looking at the positive things in life". Picture: rachelles_wheels/TikTok, Instagram

“In a lot of ways, I’m really really lucky to be here”

Four years after their wedding, Rachelle and her husband welcomed a little girl, Kaylee, into the world. And although the 38yo isn’t too pleased with being in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, she prefers to see the brighter side. 

“I will never like being paralysed,” she clarified. “But it’s all about looking at the positive things in life.” 

She also knows how lucky she is to be here today. 

“Let me take this opportunity to say that I do want there to be a cure, and I think about it often,” she said. “But it’s possible to want that and still get on with life, being grateful for what you currently have.

“And [in] a lot of ways, I’m really really lucky, and I know that.” 

And even after it all, Rachelle isn’t afraid to take a dip in the pool every now and again. “...it wasn’t the pool’s fault, and I assume I’m not getting pushed in again,” she laughed. 

“Nothing would keep me from the water!”

Originally published as My friend left me paralysed at my hen’s, but she was still in my bridal party