Bridesmaid Prank Goes Tragically Wrong, Leaves Bride Paralyzed

Just a month before her wedding, Rachelle Friedman was enjoying a night out with her bridesmaids, celebrating her finals days of being a single gal. But when an innocent prank went wrong, her entire life was changed in an instant.

"It all happened very quickly," Friedman, 25, told ABCNews.com. "We got home, ran upstairs and changed into our bathing suits," said Friedman. "My best friend -- and she still is my best friend -- she playfully pushed me in like we've done a million times."

"It was playful, but it went wrong," she said. "It was a freak accident." Friedman hit her head on the bottom of the pool and says her body "instantly went stiff." She was paralyzed.

"I remember the doctor telling me I wasn't going to walk," Friedman told ABC News. "He was very sure that I'd never, ever walk. Sometimes they give you percentages, he was pretty much like 'absolutely not.'"

After months of physical therapy rehab, Friedman returned home to the love and support of her family, friends and her fiancee. "I was always kind of scared something was going to mess up my perfect world," she said. "It was literally perfect but it completely changed and that can happen to anyone."

"But I've learned that even if things do change, you can still make your world perfect," she concluded.