A paralyzed father has wowed the internet with a dreamy, princess bedroom that he created for his three daughters after he was left wheelchair-bound.

Utah dad Daniel Kotter survived a harrowing construction accident back on August 7, 2013, plunging 35 feet from a collapsing truss. 

The incident not only took away his ability to use his legs but inflicted additional injuries, including a torn spleen, collapsed lung, and broken pelvis – and he still suffers constant nerve pain and muscle cramping.

But that hasn’t stopped the dad from being an ultra-involved father to his four children and two stepchildren.

Utah dad Daniel Kotter was left wheelchair-bound after a 35-foot fall in a construction accident back in 2013

The construction worker suffered multiple injuries, including serious damage to his spine, breaking his pelvis in three places, a collapsed his lung, and torn spleen

In the course of his recovery, Daniel met his current wife, Andrea, and the pair now share two kids – also each bringing two more children from previous marriages – making a family of eight

Last year, Daniel undertook an ambitious DIY project, building out an original design for an adorable, triple-bunk bedroom for his youngest three daughters.

A TikTok video documenting the build, which has racked up more than 27 million since December 11, shows Daniel getting in and out of his wheelchair unassisted as he climbs a ladder and nails beams to the wall.

‘2023 was a rollercoaster year for us,’ Daniel, who shares a four-bedroom home with his family, said.

‘But with eight of us, the teens felt a bit cramped sharing rooms. So, I designed a triple bunkbed slash playhouse for our three youngest daughters.

‘It’s rewarding building something for the kids, and it’s destroyed a lot of common perceptions of disability. We also got our hands dirty with some other home renovations. We hit a big milestone by partnering with Home Depot, something we’d been dreaming about for our business.

‘I’ve had multiple surgeries and a scary close call and hit 1.5 million subscribers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

‘We faced heartache with the loss of a nephew, but it brought us closer to family, friends, God, and each other. Amidst it all, we made time for camping trips and tackled the challenges of parenting head-on.’

Speaking about the day of his accident, Daniel explained he was helping a friend construct a home, when the 35-foot-high truss he was standing on began to shake.

To create a more comfortable setup for his kids in their four-bedroom house, Daniel set about creating a ‘triple bunkbed’ bedroom for his three daughters 

Daniel still suffers from constant nerve pain and muscle cramping

Despite his ongoing struggles, Daniel completed the DIY project for his daughters

He completed the design with a dreamy, princess-floral color scheme

‘We were building a section of the roof, and I set up the crane, about 30 or 40 feet up from a cement floor. A section of trusses wasn’t braced very well below, and I could feel the trusses swaying,’ he recalled.

Daniel vaguely remembers taking a few steps to regain his balance before the whole structure collapsed.

The once-active construction worker from West Haven, Connecticut, fractured his C1 vertebra, burst his L1 vertebra, and exploded his S2, S3, and S4 spinal nerves. He also broke his pelvis in three places, suffered a collapsed his lung, and tore his spleen.

Daniel wound up spending the next three-and-a-half months in the hospital.

‘At the time of the accident, I was in the middle of a divorce. The main thing I tried to center on was the final outcome of my recovery and being able to continue being a dad to my then two daughters, who were 18 months old and six-and-a-half years old at the time,’ he said.

Following his hospital discharge, Daniel embarked on a demanding journey of physical and mental recovery.

‘I was so focused on my kids and being a single dad while I was in the hospital that I didn’t think about how my physical injuries would impact my life,’ he added.

‘There was so much going on that I hadn’t even considered what life in a wheelchair would be like. Despite my physical weakness, I was getting by and doing my best to put on a game face and carry on. 

‘As a result of the trauma of the accident and the various surgeries I had, I developed scarring in the spinal cord. I suffered from extensive nerve pain (a condition known as adhesive arachnoiditis), which I still battle daily.’

Andrea wrote in the TikTok caption of the video: ‘What an incredible gift their daddy is giving them!’

During his rehabilitation, Daniel met and fell in love with his current wife, Andrea, while at a physical therapy session. The mom-of-two is a marriage, family, and human development graduate.

At the time of meeting Dan, Andrea, then 31, was taking her ex-husband in for therapy after he suffered a severe brain injury resulting from a motorbike accident while riding a Bullet bike at more than 100 miles an hour on August 6, 2013. 

He hadn’t been wearing a helmet, and wound up in a coma for about two and a half months while Andrea, who has multiple sclerosis, cared for him while also dividing her time between her two kids, who were 18 months and six years old at the time.

Andrea’s ex lost most of his memory of his former life with Andrea and was eventually admitted to a full-time care facility due to the severity of his injuries.

‘It was a complicated time for both of us, but we started chatting and, after a while, began dating. Our life stories just lined up,’ Daniel added.

The pair married in December 2014.

Daniel and his wife had two more children during their marriage, bringing their family to six. 

He has daughters Mikayla, 17, and Quinn, 12, from a previous marriage; Andrea has sons Noah, 16, and Uriah, 11, from a previous marriage; and the couple welcomed two daughters — Maisie, four, and Marlee, two — via in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Today, Dan is an inspiration to other fathers and proof that nothing is impossible with family love.

As Andrea wrote in the TikTok caption of the video: ‘What an incredible gift their daddy is giving them! Not only a DREAM bedroom, but the priceless lessons he is teaching them along the way! As they were going to sleep last night, they both said “Thank you Daddy and Mommy for our bedroom!”‘