'I don't climax but I do get excited': Paralyzed bride opens up how she and her husband still have good sex despite the fact she can't really feel it at all

A North Carolina woman who was paralyzed from the chest down when her bridesmaid pushed her into a shallow pool at her bachelorette party has revealed she and her husband have good sex despite her injuries and that while she can't orgasm, she still feels 'some kind of release.'
Rachelle Friedman Chapman, 27, shattered two vertebra in her neck in the freak 2010 accident that left her a quadriplegic.
She says she and partner, Chris Chapman, who she married in July 2011, have become 'more passionate' since the life-changing accident and they still have an active sex-life.

On Wednesday, Friedman Chapman, who describes herself as a 'really sexual person' opened up about how the couple have adapted their time in the bedroom around her injuries, how they can, and plan to, have a family and how financial woes mean she can't afford to pay for therapy, in an intimate question and answer session on website Reddit.
'Obviously our sex life is different. There were no "logistics" before and we could be way more spontaneous,' she wrote to a captivated audience.
'But we totally do (have sex)!! Sex is an important part of a relationship. We often do missionary and I'm able to hold my legs back by the back of my knees.'

The inspiring woman responded to more than 1,000 questions from Reddit users, all of whom were touched by her honesty regarding how she and Chapman were faring almost three years since she became a quadriplegic.

'Before the accident I had sex quite often. I didn't enjoy anything over the other I just liked having orgasms!' she wrote. 'I was a really sexual person so this has been difficult. But I am more sensitive on places like my neck and I really enjoy sex. I don't climax like I used to but I do get excited. And oddly enough my body feels relaxed after.'

Passion: Friedman Chapman, 27, shattered two vertebra in her neck in the freak 2010 accident that left her a quadriplegic but says she and her husband are more passionate than ever

Before: The North Carolina woman, pictured left before the accident with her fiance, and right alone said she was always a 'sexual person'

While she and Chapman 'moved positions a lot more before' she said she could still 'hug his neck, or pull him in' as well as perform oral sex.

She said the couple waited to have sex again until after she finished her rehab, but mostly because they 'didn't have a big enough bed or privacy.'

 

However, she said they do probably make love less than before because she might be in pain and not feel like it.

Users also quizzed Friedman Chapman as to how sex was for her husband post-accident.

'(It) feels the same to him,' she said, adding though that they are less able to switch positions.
Some users asked if she would allow him to take a lover, to which her answer was a vehement 'noooo!'

Feeling: The woman, pictured left and right, said she cannot climax but feels a 'release' after sex

'We are still 2 people in love and I don't deserve that. We still have sex it's just different' she wrote before insisting 'I would flip the heck out and divorce him' if he requested such an arrangement.

Friedman Chapman also opened up about how she and her husband want to have children soon. But she said they are struggling to make ends meet financially because she can't work so have put their plans on the backburner for now.

'Yes and we want kids badly,' she wrote. 'The spinal cord controls muscles so everything else is in working order. Once we get financially straight we are going to have one.'

She said she would aim to have a natural birth over a C-section but added 'we will see.' She added that she will have to stop taking the low blood pressure drugs she is on and may have to remain in bed throughout the pregnancy.
Friedman Chapman said on her Facebook page how humbled she was by the outpouring of support during the question and answer session.

Sex-life: Rachelle Friedman Chapman, 27, pictured on her wedding day with husband Chris Chapman, says the couple still have an active sex-life despite her injuries

Money woes: The couple say they are struggling to make ends meet on one salary

She thanked in particular one Reddit user who set up a campaign to raise money for Freidman Chapman's continued rehab on IndieGoGo.com, and around $500 has already been collected.

She gets monthly payments of 60 per cent of her old salary, which she said was under $30,000 a year. But she has to fork out $625 a month for her insurance and does not receive any type of federal assistance so the bills are mounting.

'Money is a factor because we were pretty even on that level before and now we rely on his teacher salary. So it does add stress but we work through it,' she wrote to readers.

Chapman is worried that if he changes to a better paying job, his employer's insurance may not cover his wife, and Friedman Chapman's injuries make it near impossible for her to hold down a job.

She said she hasn't done any physical therapy since 2011 because she cannot afford the $3,000 insurance deductible to pay for regular sessions. 

Life-changing: Friedman Chapmna, pictured left before and right immediately after the accident is still adapting to her new life

Wedding dance: The woman says she misses dancing a lot, but regularly plays quad rugby

The brave young woman also discussed how she has forgiven the friend who pushed her into the swimming pool on that fateful day in May 2010.
'(My friend) had a really really hard time but its getting better,' she wrote. 'I think it helps when I tell her about the good things that have come out of this. It was not hard to forgive because it was an accident.
She added in response to another question: 'It was different in the beginning. Like the elephant in the room. I mean it's hard to act normal in our situation. But I love her to death and we talk everyday. Things are way more normal now. As far as treating her differently I'm just very cautious about her feelings. Don't like to talk about the negative side of the injury around her.'
But a constant theme in the pages-long thread was how lucky she and her husband felt to have each other, despite her injuries and their money woes.
'We have become more passionate and clingy with each other' since the accident, she wrote. 'I think we are just so happy because my injury could have been worse. We are lucky to have each other.'