By Emma Dunn
A dad who was paraylsed after falling 35ft from a roof has refused to let his disability hold him back and built bunk beds for his daughters.
Dan Kotter, 46, was building the roof of a house when he fell and cracked his vertebrae and broke his pelvis into several pieces – leaving him paralysed from the waist down.
During his time in outpatient therapy he met his now-wife, Andrea, 42, and struck up a friendship before it blossomed into something more a year later.
The couple went on to get married and have two children together – Maisie, four, and Marlee, two.
Dan still loves to build and has spent the last year constructing a bedroom for his children and daughter from a previous relationship, 12.
He wants to show others that they can do anything they put their mind to.
Andrea, a content creator, from Salt Lake City, Utah, US, said: Andrea said: “I found strength in seeing him mastering his trauma so well.
“It’s just incredible.
“He makes it look so seamless and easy.”
Dan added: “It’s rewarding building something for the kids.
“It’s destroyed a lot of common perceptions of disability.”
Dan was building a house for a friend when the accident happened in August 2013.
He said: “I was on the top of the trusses of the roof.
“I felt the roof start to sway and it dominoed.
“I was 35ft up from a cement garage floor.
“I remember being like ‘oh s**t’ and that’s the last thing I remember before waking up.”
Dan was taken to his local hospital before being transferred to the University of Utah Hospital.
He had a collapsed left lung, torn spleen, cracked his L1 vertebrae and torn his pelvis into several pieces.
He said: “When I hit the ground I went down in seated position.
“Initially, I still had use of my toes and feet but as it went on it diminished.”
Dan was taken for surgery to have a metal plate and bone grafted in his spine but was told he would be left paralysed.
It was until he neared the end of his three month stint in hospital that the news sunk in.
Dan said: “The started talking to me about where I was going to live and it finally sunk in.
“I was going to be a single dad in a wheelchair.
“I knew I was going to hit the ground running.”
He has two daughters from a previous marriage.
Dan said: “I met Andrea during my outpatient therapy.
“Her ex-husband was there.”
Andrea said: “When I saw him he was totally defeated but I felt a strength coming from him.
“Something drew me to him as a person.
“I thought he was a stud.
“He was rocking life.”
After a year of friendship the pair started dating in October 2014 and got married in December of the same year.
Andrea who has two sons from her previous marriage but wanted another baby and eventually convinced Dan to have children together.
They welcomed Maisie in May 2014 and Marlee in March 2021 after going through IVF.
Dan said: “I was nervous about having kids again. The idea of having a baby with me being in a wheelchair was scary to say the least.
“I didn’t know to what degree I was going to be a dad.
“But I realised how much I was able to still do.”
Andrea said: “He’s a rock star.
“He’s been the one that gets up. He does it all.
“They’ve been a blessing more than a struggle.
“They’ve given us such a purpose.”
Dan is still able to do laundry, hold and feed the babies and do tasks any able bodied parent can do.
He has continued his love for construction – and decided to remodel his daughters’ room to make more space in the house.
Dan said: “We sat down and designed something.
“I love building.
“The girls got super excited and went crazy.
“They had such gratitude.”
The room consists of three beds – constructed in a bunk bed way but so they each can have their own space in the room for their things.
Dan has some use of his quad muscles which he uses to pull himself up when building.
Dan said: “People say I’m sure his wife just cares for him – it destroys that perception.”
Andrea added: “He does more than 99 per cent of able bodied husbands.”
Dan said: “It would be easier to give up.
“You’ve to light a fire under you and punch today in the face.”
Follow on the family on Instagram and Tiktok @thewheelchairdad
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