Sacred Heart University is rallying around a field hockey player who is recovering from a ski accident that left her paralyzed.

Anna Buhrmann, 19, is from Germany. She joined her two best friends, Aly Cunningham and Kenzie Riccardi, for a ski trip to Copper Mountain in Colorado for spring break.

But on their first run March 6, something tragic happened.

"It was just a freak accident," said Riccardi.

Buhrmann hit a tree and is now paralyzed from the shoulders down.

"Stuff like that happens all the time. You hear about it, but you never think hey it might happen to me ... it's not going to be that severe," said Riccardi.

"She said, 'I can't feel my legs,' and that's when I knew maybe this was something serious," said Cunningham.

Buhrmann was flown to Denver and underwent seven hours of emergency spine surgery. Her friends never left her side and say she snapped her C6 and C7 vertebrae and severed her spinal cord.

"There's always hope. She'll be in rehab. The hope is that she'll regain some hand movement," said Cunningham.

Buhrmann's friends set up a GoFundMe that has raised over $190,000 toward her care.

"We just wanted in some way to be able to help them. Obviously we couldn't change what happened, so this was the next best thing to give her parents support and Anna support," said Riccardi.

While the school was rooting on the Sacred Heart women's basketball team in their first NCAA tournament win, the team wished Buhrmann well in a special video message.

"It's going to be a process for her to ever be able to move her hands or her arms or her legs again, and the chances are very, very slim, but I mean you hear about miracles all the time, and there's a possibility that she could be able to use her fingers again and her arms," said Riccardi.

Buhrmann's close friends say they are praying for a miracle.

The Sacred Heart field hockey team is making T-shirts and wrist bands to raise money for Buhrmann. There is also talk about prayer services.