A joyous bachelorette party turned into a nightmare for Rachelle Friedman Chapman, a 38-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina, when a playful push into a swimming pool left her permanently paralyzed. The incident, which occurred in May 2010, has been shared in a viral TikTok video, garnering over 20 million views.
How Being Pushed Into A Pool Led To Catastrophe
Chapman, then 24, was enjoying a night with friends when the unthinkable happened. “When my best friend pushed me in a pool at my bachelorette party,” she wrote in the video’s captions, “I was permanently paralyzed.”
@rachelles_wheels So many people said you’d leave but here we are on our 12th wedding anniversary! We could never live without one another and we are beyond lucky to have this love story. And look what we created together#. Heres to many, many more. #love #lovestory #fyp #couplegoals #relationshipgoals #relationship #weddingtiktok #couplestiktok ♬ Thank God – Kane Brown & Katelyn Brown
The fall into the water resulted in a severe spinal cord injury that left Chapman a quadriplegic. Despite the profound impact on her life, Chapman has chosen to focus on the positives. “I will never like being paralyzed,” she said. “But it’s all about looking at the positive things in life.”
Her journey, previously documented in the TLC special “Rattled: A Paralyzed Mother’s Story” in 2017, continues to inspire many. This spring, Chapman reflected on the 14th anniversary of her injury, sharing how the event dramatically altered her life’s course.
“14 years ago today my whole world was rocked,” she posted. “I was 24 years old, had bought a house, got my first real job, and had just gotten engaged to my college sweetheart.”
The accident occurred after a fun night out with friends. Upon returning to the house to swim, a friend playfully pushed Chapman into the pool. Unprepared for the roughhousing, she fell headfirst into the water, breaking her neck and suffering an immediate spinal cord injury.
@rachelles_wheels I will never like being paralyzed. But it’s all about looking at the positive things in life #Motivation #Grudge #trend #Inspiration #f#fypc#crazystoryw#wheelchairp#paralyzedi#inspo ♬ original sound – James
Moving Forward
Despite this life-altering event, Chapman’s resilience has been remarkable. After a year of rehabilitation, she married her supportive husband Chris in 2011. The friend who pushed her was even a bridesmaid at their wedding. “I could go into detail about everything that happened that night,” Chapman said. “But now, the story is about love, family, and overcoming odds.”
Chapman and Chris welcomed a daughter four years later, continuing to build their lives together despite the challenges posed by her paralysis. “We got married a year later, had a baby girl four years after that, and [are now] living our best life,” she shared. “In a lot of ways I’m really, really lucky.”
Chapman’s story serves as a powerful reminder of the dangers associated with seemingly harmless pranks and accidents, particularly around pools and other bodies of water. Pranks can be dangerous, and a fall into any shallow body of water can result in severe injury.
For instance, Dana Barrett, a New York woman, experienced a life-changing accident when she dove into a shallow swimming pool and ended up a quadriplegic. “I remember diving into the pool and hearing my neck crack, then nothing,” Barrett, 31, told news sources. The freak accident, which occurred on June 29, 2019, forced her to spend over a year in the hospital as she could no longer move or breathe independently.
The former restaurant manager was attending a pool party at her boyfriend’s home on Long Island when the accident happened. Diving into the pool, she unfortunately misjudged the depth, hit her head, and snapped her neck.
More recently, in Texas, a 13-year-old boy named Semyon Williams Jr. became a quadriplegic after diving into a pool to avoid being stung by a wasp. The dive fractured his neck and shattered his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed and unable to use his arms, hands, legs, or feet.
Final Thoughts
These incidents highlight the sobering reality of water-related accidents, where even a minor misstep can result in life-altering injuries. Horseplay and risky behaviors around pools can pose significant dangers that should be taken seriously. Incidents like pushing someone into a pool, even in jest, can have severe consequences, as seen in cases where individuals have suffered spinal injuries or worse. Similarly, diving into shallow bodies of water, often perceived as harmless fun, can lead to head and neck injuries that may result in paralysis or even death.
Featured Photo Credit: @rachelles_wheels
