Raleigh, North Carolina. On May 23rd, 2010, Rachelle Friedman Chapman was celebrating her bachelorette party with all of her closest friends.
Rachelle had a lot to celebrate at that point in her life aside from her upcoming wedding to the love of her life.
She and her husband-to-be had bought their very first house together, and she had also landed a job that she absolutely adored.
She felt that everything was going so well for her, but all of that changed in a heartbeat after her best friend tried to do something light-hearted at the bachelorette party.
“At the end of the night of my bachelorette party, my friend playfully pushed me into a pool and I was paralyzed instantly from a spinal cord injury,” Rachelle explained in a Facebook post she shared on the 11th anniversary of the night her life changed.
Instagram; pictured above is Rachelle with her husband Chris
“On the third or fourth night after my accident, my heart completely stopped and a nurse had to administer CPR.”
“Honestly, I’m just so grateful to be alive and I am grateful for what I do have even if it’s not what I had planned.”
Rachelle’s outlook on what happened to her on that fateful night is nothing but admirable. She feels that things play out in our lives for a specific purpose.
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Facebook; pictured above is Rachelle’s post regarding the night she got injured
Although Rachelle was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down following her bachelorette party, she still got married to her husband a year afterward.
Rachelle acknowledged that a lot of people thought that she and her husband Chris would not make it in their marriage due to her disability, however, that’s just not the case.
Rachelle and Chris recently celebrated 10 years of marriage and renewed their vows to one another.
“Chris fell in love with my soul and we have intertwined our souls together as one. We truly couldn’t love without the other,” Rachelle shared in another Facebook post.
“He’s not a hero for sticking around..he’s just in love. Love you Chris!”
You can follow Rachelle on Facebook here!
Instagram; pictured above Chris dips and kisses Rachelle