Falling 35 Feet & Finding Faith: The Wheelchair Dad’s Story

What if your greatest setback became your biggest calling? There are some moments in life that just stop you in your tracks—and this conversation is one of them. I sat down with Dan and Andrea Kotter, a couple whose journey through tragedy, faith, resilience, and relentless love has inspired me to my core. Dan fell 35 feet off a roof and was left paralyzed from the waist down. Andrea met him after the accident, while going through her own unimaginable heartbreak. But neither of them let their pain define them—they chose to build something even greater instead. This isn’t just a story about surviving. It’s about rebuilding—physically, emotionally, spiritually. Dan could have given up. Instead, he pushed through years of surgeries, chronic pain, and loss, while Andrea stood by his side, not seeing the wheelchair, but the strength that conquered it. They’ve blended families, faced down trauma, and raised six incredible kids, all while showing up on social media to shine light into other people’s darkness. We talked about what it really takes to choose joy when life hands you suffering. How faith—real, grounded, daily faith—can carry you through when nothing else makes sense. How sometimes your life falling apart is exactly what’s needed to put you on the path you were meant for. And how you don’t need some “perfect” story to make a difference—your real life is enough. Their content has saved lives. It’s made broken dads rethink fatherhood. It’s helped people believe in God again. That’s the power of two people showing up, being honest, and refusing to quit. Dan and Andrea reminded me—and will remind you—that no matter what you’re facing, you’ve got more in you than you think. And you’re never alone in the fight. Key Takeaways: The life-changing moment that left Dan paralyzed—and how he chose to respond. Andrea’s decision to love a man in a wheelchair after her own heartbreaking trauma. The unshakable role of faith in their healing, growth, and purpose. How authentic social media content can literally save lives. Why real strength means showing up in the struggle, not hiding it. Listen now and share this with someone who needs a reminder that their story still matters. MAX OUT. 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈 → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ INSTAGRAM ➡️FACEBOOK ➡️ LINKEDIN ➡️ X ➡️ WEBSITE Get my exclusive Monday Motivation training in GrowthDay, the world’s #1 app for advanced mindset and personal development. Visit https://growthday.com/ed. This show is sponsored by GrowthDay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

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• 0:45Ed Mylett?

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• 1:29Ed Mylett?

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• 2:08Speaker 01

  This is the Ed Meyer Show.

• 2:14Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to the show, everybody. So, you know, every once in a while, I go find the guest that I want. As you all know, at the show nowadays, literally, we get thousands of requests for people to come on the show. It's very difficult for me and the team to determine who we want to have on. And then, every once in a while, I find somebody and I tell the team, "Go get them. That's who I want to have on the show." They inspire, they move me, the world needs to know more about them. And this couple that I'm going to introduce to you today is exactly that. I've been watching their stuff for a while. I can't put it down. I'm moved. I'm inspired. I learn. And they have a rather remarkable story. If you don't follow the wheelchair dad, you need to. But he is a very unique man. Many, many years ago, 2013, he fell off a roof

• 2:59Ed Mylett?

  about 35 feet and he became paralyzed from the waist down after that incident. Obviously, that was life-changing. Any of you going through a life-changing event right now, you want to lean in. Any of you think you're having a bad day, compared to what? We're going to talk about that today. He's a remarkable man. He's a real man. He's strong. He's also kind, gentle, vulnerable, and shows all of the emotions a man should show publicly and privately. She is spectacular. She's the brains behind their operation on social media. As I understand it, she met him after this fall happened, after he was in a wheelchair.

• 3:39Ed Mylett?

  And together, they've built an amazing family. I think they have six babies. We're going to dive into that, their story, their resiliency. But they've also built a big social media following, and she is going to give you some tips to doing that as well. Dan and Andrea Kotter, welcome to the show. Great to have you.

• 3:53Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. So good to be here, and you're already making me cry. Great intro. Yeah, me too.

• 4:00Speaker 03

  Well, I mean, if I were to cry, that's where.

• 4:02Ed Mylett?

  Well, when someone speaks truth to you, it hits differently. All right, Dan, let's start with you. I'm gonna, I, my audience knows me. I need to keep it together today so that we can have a great conversation. So I'm gonna sound a little businesslike, at least in the beginning. But can you just, brother, like, as detailed as you can? Yesterday, our dog passed away, Lily. And it was a dramatic day for our family. Most people on social media know Lily. I haven't even told the world yet till the podcast, right? Till I'm saying it right now. And that was a really life-altering day for our family. And then I'm like, but I'm interviewing Dan tomorrow. That was a life-altering day. There's, there's levels to life-altering. And what you had is a level most people can't even conceive of. What happened that day?

• 4:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, that day we were, I was building a house for a friend of a friend. We were setting the trusses for the roof, just like the skeleton work. And I was up on the top of that and we're just, didn't have the best hands on, on the deck, running around on the ground. Somebody nails a bracing up and I was up on the very top of the peak, about thirty to thirty-five feet up. I just remember feeling, I can still feel it as soon as I think about it. I just remember feeling everything start to shift. And I said, oh shit. And that's about, I took like two steps across the board to where, I don't know. I just like moving and then that was it. There wasn't anywhere to go and hit the ground.

• 5:28Speaker 03

  The cement floor halfway and halfway out of their garage door and had a trail of trusses and wood and lumber coming down after me as well. I woke up in the hospital and it was just a just a, I guess, a different day. As soon as I started remembering everything and different people popping in and out of the hospitals. It was different. At first I could still move my feet a little bit. My foot up and down and the doctors were all excited because turns out I was like broken in half. When I hit the ground, I cracked my C1 vertebrae up at the very top. And then where I used to sling my hammer on my tool belt, when I landed, I landed on my hammer.

• 6:12Speaker 03

  And so in the back, it was like my L1, which is about your belly button level. That one exploded and then broke my S2, 3 and 4. So basically your tailbone area just got crushed and then broke my pelvis in three places.

• 6:28Speaker 03

  Collapsed my left lung and tore my spleen. And so that was the mess the doctors got to start dealing with.

• 6:35Ed Mylett?

  Well, but you had to start dealing with the reality at some point that maybe you're not going to walk again. Was there a point where you knew that was going to be the case? I've had a couple of people on who had an incident, a football player who became paralyzed. What's the moment like when you go, oh, like my life is definitely not the same anymore? Do you remember that consciously, what you were processing at the time or when you knew?

• 7:01Speaker 03

  I do. It's kind of weird. 30 feet sounds like a long ways to fall, but this was like third time hitting that.

• 7:09Ed Mylett?

  Oh, what?

• 7:10Speaker 03

  So, yeah, the, the first time, the first time I went three stories down, I was able to get up and my body started working about a half hour later and went like, I was just young and dumb. And I went 30 feet down an elevator shaft and there was some snow in the bottom that we'd shoveled in there the day before. But so that one, that one I, I came back out of and then about six months later was the second one that had some heat stroke and fell in a direction of the edge of the floor and somehow ended 32 feet down. And that one, I broke my femur. My leg was wrapped around like my back and my foot was up here. And so that was on that one and, and I actually tore ligaments off of my, my C1, the one up in the top again.

• 7:55Speaker 03

  And so that one I, I recovered, like I, they put a rod in my leg. So my leg was normal again and like I had to do physical therapy a bunch and move my leg a bunch. But like, I mean, I recovered from that one, felt like I was young and dumb and invincible. And then when I had this one, like I could still move my foot originally and like, I could hear the doctors, you know? They were like, oh man, like move your foot, you know, do the gas pedal thing. And, you know, like everything was going okay. And then one or two days turned into several more and nothing was happening as far as surgeries, surgeries or any intervention. And then. Finally, we got transferred to a different hospital and had surgery. And then when I came out of

• 8:36Speaker 03

  that surgery, my legs were just swollen and huge by this point. I couldn't move my feet and and do that gas pedal thing anymore. So it kind of started to be frustrating and sink in that, you know, maybe you're not going to beat this one, but didn't really sink in yet. I still had tons of physical therapy in front of me. I thought for sure I was just gonna, you know, work through it and end up, you know, normal still again. And then it wasn't until about a couple of weeks before I actually was released out of the hospital. And I was down there in their physical therapy room. They have a board, a white wall, a whiteboard, and they put down people's

• 9:14Speaker 03

  names and projected release date. And when I saw my name on that, like it's like it's finally suddenly sunk in that, dude, you're like, you're going home paralyzed. Like, you're not walking. You didn't beat it. Like, I still thought in the back of my mind, like, I took the first year off from worrying about anything and just did physical therapy five days a week. And any, any chance I had, I was gonna give it to it, give it its all. And so I worked on it that whole first year. And when I left the hospital, I knew I was gonna be in a wheelchair finally. And I kind of had to swallow that. And it was, it was a lot going on.

• 9:58Ed Mylett?

  One, we haven't even talked about all the pain you went through physically, right? That's like, that's, that's a given, I assume. But two, I'd be thinking, probably never gonna work again because I worked physically, which by the way, turned out not to be true with him, everyone. What do you see his carpentry work? You're gonna be blown away. You can believe what this guy does. Okay, that's why he's here. He's not here because he's in a wheelchair. Okay, he's not here. It's because of what he's done from the chair, which is what I want you all to lean into today. But I'd also be thinking, I mean, I'd be thinking about all the things in my life I'm not gonna have again. Was that running through your mind regularly? Did you get depressed?

• 10:33Speaker 03

  There was a lot going through my mind. My divorce, I had started a divorce with my wife at the time.

• 10:39Ed Mylett?

  Prior to the fall.

• 10:40Speaker 03

  Correct. Prior to the fall. Yeah, she had already said, she had already moved out. We were still working on our divorce, but the divorce finalized and like I knew I was gonna be a single dad still. I was, it was really important that I had joint custody fifty fifty, you know, so and like everything, yeah, was going through my head. What am I gonna do to provide for my, my girls? Like I got, I got stuck with the house and the cars and anything that we owed money on. Like how the hell am I gonna, what am I gonna do to pay this? Where's this leading? And there was a lot of stress and, and I think that kind of took the mind off of some of the reality. Yeah, like I was worried about relationships or girls I was dating and curious wow that was gonna pan

• 11:23Speaker 03

  out and the rest of, you know, to the rest of any of those relationships or going into my future, what that was going to be like. I knew I still wanted to be married at some point and have a family that was solid and a lot of fear and unknown, uncertain stuff that I was trying to process. And the situation in the hospital, the floor I was on was like people that had had strokes and head injuries and other, you know, neurological type stuff. So I saw, I saw a lot of people that were a lot worse off.

• 11:58Ed Mylett?

  What blows my mind about people that go through events like this, that end up on the other side, somehow they find something to be grateful about by comparison almost. It's like, I'm not surprised you just said that. Well, at least I didn't have a stroke. You know, at least I could still think. At least I, and I wonder if that's a lesson for everyone listening to, if you're going through something, I know you know this, but someone does have it worse. Like they've got a great relationship. They have a beautiful family. They're blowing up on social media. I think they're probably making a couple bucks. You know what I mean? Like, things can change from where you are. I mean, I, I say this on your behalf, Dan. If you can walk, if you're able bodied right now in your life, that's just something we all take for granted

• 12:43Ed Mylett?

  every single day until you can't. Until you can't. And I just want you all thinking about all the things in your life that maybe you're just not taking. You're taking for granted every single day. And one of the things, Andrea, I wanted to ask you is like, you know, there's something special about you. And then obviously there's something special about Dan that you saw. That of all the men on earth, you said, that's the one I want to spend my life with. How'd you meet? And when did you know and how did you know?

• 13:11Speaker 02

  Well, it's so interesting because. If you know our story, you know that I. I was going through my own tragedy at the time that we met.

• 13:21Ed Mylett?

  What was it? Tell that lie, I know, but they don't.

• 13:22Speaker 02

  My husband at the time was in a bullet bike accident. And he was left with a traumatic brain injury that left him now like a seven year old child.

• 13:35Speaker 02

  And we were kind of going through some hard things prior to that. Accident, I took care of him for several months. It was about eight months before I decided to separate from him. I was only thirty two years old. And I had two young kids and. When I met Dan, the first time I saw him. He was sat at a table, so we were both in the therapy system together at the hospital because we were both going through these traumas. And he was sitting at a table, he was looking. Through a pamphlet, actually I found this out later, he was looking through a pamphlet of. Accessible apartments, trying to figure out where he was going to live. And I saw this, it was like a very. Disheartening look on his face, but there was also a strength to it.

• 14:19Speaker 02

  Like I just saw that he was such a warrior and something, something drew me to him. And that was the first time I saw him, but it wasn't until months later that we actually spoke to each other while we were. Both in the therapy room, actually the first words that I spoke to him was. You're a stud. Because that's what he is, like he just, he has this. This power and this presence and this. Tenacity about him, so. I actually was sitting in Taco Bell eating just near the rehab facility that we were at. And I saw him. Pull up, he had brought his grandfather to lunch and he was on, he drove himself. He was unloading his wheelchair out of the car.

• 15:03Speaker 02

  He wheeled up to the door, he opened the door for his grandpa. He, and I knew that he had recently been injured. And so the fact that he had already like pulled himself together, gotten an accessible vehicle, was driving, was inviting his grandpa to lunch. And I went over and made sure I had the opportunity to hold the door open for him. And as he passed me, I was like, you are a stud. You just are.

• 15:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 15:28Speaker 02

  I didn't, I didn't really see the wheelchair. I saw the strength that he had beating the wheelchair. Like 100% um, our meeting was put together by God. There's no doubt in my mind. We needed to meet each other. We needed to meet each other at the time that we did. Uh, we both provided the strength and encouragement and empathy and understanding for each other that we needed at that time as a friendship built. And you know, further down the road, it turned into more, but.

• 15:58Ed Mylett?

  I see the big guy there getting all teary eyed as you're talking and um, I think what drew me to your content first is all the things Dan goes through yet achieves, which we're going to talk about in a minute. The other piece of it is the faith piece for me. And I'm just curious, Dan, in your case and Andrea, were you super strong in your faith before this fall? And then it just became stronger? Dan, in your case, or was it like after that you found your faith in God? And Andrea, what about you coming into this?

• 16:32Speaker 03

  This is a, a big part of my, my story, my presence, I guess, in my opinion. I, I grew up in the church and ditched out when I was 17 and moved out, did my whole thing, lived my own life and was making all the wrong choices like. In every way, like just was not doing very good. I was having fun, I thought, but then towards the end of my relationship with my ex, I started realizing that there was a lot missing, that there's a lot more to life. And I was looking at my seven year old daughter now thinking, oh, my gosh, she's watching me like do this party lifestyle and just watching me do all this dumb stuff. And like, she's gonna find a dude just like me. And

• 17:14Speaker 03

  I am not gonna have that. There's no way. And so like, I really took a look at myself at that point and started having questions and started meeting again, like with religious leaders and started my journey back into my faith and trying to strengthen that. And it was about three months. This was about three months prior to my accident. So a lot of people, a lot of people are like, man, how did you like, like, weren't you mad at God for, you know, all this happening? And I really attribute the fact that I was seeking God and really using that as a, as a strength to build me and my family, my character and

• 17:55Speaker 03

  everything that I had that as a, as a strength that helped pull me up.

• 18:02Ed Mylett?

  That's what got you through, you think? Andrea, did you have faith when you met him?

• 18:06Speaker 02

  Yes. Yeah, I've always been a pretty faithful person and had a strong relationship with God. And yeah, I think that that was helping carry me through a lot of things that helped me make a lot of hard choices. And that's been something I've always held near to my heart and been super thankful for.

• 18:24Ed Mylett?

  Let me ask you this, this is straight up. Andrea, you first, what's, what's the thing you would say to someone who's going through their version of this? What would you say to them that got you guys through it and gets you to flourish, even though I know you still have bad days?

• 18:37Speaker 02

  Yeah. Oh, for sure. I was gonna say, the reality of it is that we've been married over 10 years and we didn't start our social media until three years ago. There's a reason for that. And it is that we're both on our third marriage. We're blending families. It has not been easy. It has been a huge struggle. We had to wait to start our social media until there were enough days in a row that we felt positive towards each other.

• 19:01Ed Mylett?

  I love this.

• 19:02Speaker 02

  And it was a fight. It has been a major challenge and it's taken a lot of work on both of our parts. We both deal with a lot of trauma and we had ex spouses and. Blending families and different parenting styles, it has not been easy by any stretch of the imagination. But I think through everything that we go through, whether it's health struggles or problems in our marriage or whatever, I think when you have that connection to God, when you have that closeness, it just makes, it puts everything into perspective. It makes everything seem like it's not so big and like you just know that it's, there's ups and there's downs and that's how this life is meant to be.

• 19:45Speaker 02

  And I think there was a moment, this last health scare that we had when we were in the hospital.

• 19:51Speaker 03

  You just had another one.

• 19:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, and Dan was facing, he had this major infection in his leg and, and the doctors were starting to talk about scary things like amputations and cutting his leg open all the way through to the bone and all these scary things. And there was a moment where this is the first time that I had seen actually Dan being somewhat beat by, by the devastation that this stuff is just, you would think that he doesn't use his legs being paralyzed, but he uses them a lot. If you watch our videos, you see he uses them to prop himself up and to get into the car and all the things. And so the thought of losing those things was just like, I could see the defeat in his face.

• 20:32Speaker 02

  And the doctor came in and he was basically telling us like, we're worried that this is spreading to the bone, to the muscle, we need to cut your leg open, we need to do all these things. And that was terrifying to us and for several reasons, one being that Dan's legs do not heal well. So if they cut it open, it would be a wound for eternity. So we had the doctor leave the room so that we could talk about it and think about it. We felt like it was an urgent situation. And Dan starts scrolling through his phone and he called his mom and he's like searching through his phone to try and find like, who can I call to try and give me advice on this? And I, I turned to him and I said, Dan, there's nobody in your phone that knows what to do more than God does.

• 21:18Speaker 02

  And so I said, we need to pray right now. And so we said, Out there in the hospital bed and said a prayer and when the prayer was done, we both looked down at Dan's leg and it was bright red all the way up. The infection was spreading. And for both of us, we immediately, when the prayer was done, we saw like the redness in his leg was just like dissipating. And we looked at each other and I was like, are you seeing, like, are you seeing that too? And it didn't stay that way. The infection was still there for a long time. But that was enough for, to tell us that God was aware of us. And that he was answering our prayers. So the fact that we both saw that getting better a little bit,

• 22:03Speaker 02

  made us realize that it wasn't such an urgent situation and we had time and we didn't need to make that drastic situation in that moment. And the peace of the spirit told that to us in that moment. Nobody on the phone could have told us that. So I think, I think when you have a close relationship with God, it just helps you put things into perspective. You can feel the peace even when you're going through the storms.

• 22:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I'm picturing your leg changing there and I believe you, by the way. I believe that that started to change. Dan, would your answer be different?

• 22:37Speaker 03

  No, not at all. It was pretty surreal. It's leading like up to that situation and that you're talking about and that we're just talking about. It was uh, pretty remarkable and, and did just set us back for a minute and give us a chance to figure out what we were gonna do. It got rid of the urgency that the surgeon was putting on, putting on us like, it was like the surgery rooms, the OR tables were ready for you. You just gotta sign this paper and then we're gonna go down and got open both sides of your leg and start and they're like, if we don't, you could die, right?

• 23:12Ed Mylett?

  Do you both either like going through that situation or even now, be honest, I, I love Andrea, you being so honest about why you waited to get on social media? That's like a real relationship. What percentage of the time you're like, this sucks? I mean, do you still have those days and those moments where you're just like, this just sucks? Like, we have to deal with all of this? Or is it just part of your normal now?

• 23:30Speaker 03

  If I'm really just alone or silent and just thinking about like my, how crazy my nerve pain gets sometimes with that other condition I have with my nerves and

• 23:40Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 23:41Speaker 03

  Where it's just like, gosh, like when I really just am stuck in that moment thinking about it, like it really sucks.

• 23:48Ed Mylett?

  It's hard to watch those videos, bro. When you're, when you're in those moments, man, that's uh, my heart goes out to you. When I think of your content, I think of the faith, I think of the work you create and I think of me seeing you a couple of times in that, those moments. It doesn't leave me. Can you describe that condition by the way? So everybody knows what we're talking about right now? Like this is, this didn't just end once he was in the wheelchair, you guys.

• 24:14Speaker 03

  My nerve pain was elevated from the get-go. The doctors were just like really confused. Didn't figure it out for four and a half years and all the surgeries and everything. It created a condition called adhesive arachnoiditis. It sounds really like made up, but it's real. But uh, it's just uh, all your nerves in your back instead of like free flowing and being able to like float around in the spinal fluid. Like they're just stuck together and then it's, it scars to the sidewall inside. And from that point, your nerves and your body and everything is just really confused and crazy. And like my, even like broke my back and everything's in my back. My leg, uh, your man, his left leg is where all my pain is.

• 24:52Speaker 03

  And, and it used to be like the, the ugly in those videos when, when you see like my tens and elevens on my pain. Like those used to happen like regularly every day.

• 25:03Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 25:04Speaker 03

  We've been able to get it. We've been able to get it now to where it's like not near as crazy and near as frequently or anything. I don't feel like we get stuck in the, this sucks stuff very often.

• 25:16Ed Mylett?

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• 26:01Ed Mylett?

  Co slash my let to see if you qualify that's R O dot C O slash my let to get started on row For side effects of GLP one medications, including boxed warning, go to R O dot C O forward slash safety, R O dot C O slash safety. So when I end when I end up buying the island, we had to do all of our outdoor decorating and I spent a fortune in the first half of the place. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore, but I want the best stuff. And that's where Wayfair came in. My wife wanted to get this new garden bed and Wayfair was the place that offered the perfect solution. Wayfair also helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand vetted by product specialists. They use a 10 point quality inspection system. Here's all I can tell you. The stuff has lasted over time. It looks great and I get compliments on it.

• 26:45Ed Mylett?

  Shop thousands of products across every style and budget, whether you're trying to refresh your space for fall or transform your space for Halloween. Use filters, custom photos and reviews to find the right fit for your home. More than 20 million verified five star reviews, 20 million. So transform your space with the pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair rewards today and get 5% back on every purchase. Head to wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com.

• 27:17Speaker 04

  Wayfair, every style, every home.

• 27:21Ed Mylett?

  Is there any part of you, either of you now where you're like, this was actually an ironic blessing of some types?

• 27:28Speaker 02

  Hundred percent.

• 27:29Speaker 03

  Oh, absolutely.

• 27:30Speaker 02

  Dan, Dan actually says that he wouldn't change it. If he could go back to that day, he wouldn't change it. It has been, I mean, the fact that we met, that we were able to run families, our two babies that we've had together. The faith that we've both built through the trials, like there's, there's no part of me that would change anything that I've experienced. There's no part of me that would change what we're going through together.

• 27:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, reading through people's comments and comments from people like how our videos are like sharing our lives with them have like literally changed people's lives, like even people that were saying, you know, I was ready to commit suicide. I mean, I was going to be done with life and for some reason I found your channel and like something in there course corrected that or we had, you know, there's people that there one that stands out. He's like, I was an atheist. Don't believe in God at all, but now you've got me questioning and you know,

• 28:26Ed Mylett?

  You're really.

• 28:27Speaker 03

  But there's so many of the things in there or dads, like a big thing for me is when a father gets on there and is like, man, you you're, I'm rethinking everything about being a dad. Like it, it's huge for me to be able to know that, that there's all of this positivity and all of these lives changed, a life that they're changing for their kids, for their spouse, for their grandbabies, for

• 28:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 28:55Speaker 03

  Who knows what it's gonna do.

• 28:56Ed Mylett?

  Isn't God amazing, bro? That day, by the way, very few dudes fall off roofs three times, but as you're falling that day, that God would use you this many years later to reach millions of people. It's just amazing, the power of when you have God's blessing, but also, and I just want to tell you the two of you, I, I've been trying to figure out what is it with the two of you that like moves me? Um, because I don't feel sorry for you, right? I really don't. You're too strong. You're bold. You're, you are a stud, dude. Wheelchair aside, you're a stud and Andrea is a studette. So I don't have that. I think it's that I'm moved by your will to live and do better.

• 29:41Ed Mylett?

  Like you have tremendous will. I think this, if I'm guessing, this whole wheelchair thing strengthened your faith and also you found a will within yourself that you didn't know you had. And Andrea, when you were a little girl growing up, you weren't thinking, my first husband's gonna have a traumatic brain injury and I can't really communicate with him anymore. And then the second guy, I'm gonna pick a guy in a wheelchair. That wasn't your, your vision for your life, but you've got this thing in you that you didn't know. This will. Am I right about that? Like if you're bragging, the two of you are so damn humble. It's hard to get you to say anything good about yourselves, but like, there's some validity that I know, I know, like you could have even had a fight before we went on the podcast today. I know you have real life. I know one of your kids is screwing up something right now. Like we all have real life.

• 30:23Ed Mylett?

  And then I have you with these tears in your eyes right now. I think there's a will to live, but also this will to serve other people through your content. If you're bragging, am I right about what I just said? If you were really bragging on yourself?

• 30:37Speaker 02

  When you're faced with something like you have a choice to make. You either do it or you don't. And I think our kids give us so much drive because like, what are we gonna do? Like, sit there and cry while we have six kids waiting for us to put dinner on the table? Like, we can't.

• 30:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 30:53Speaker 02

  Like, it's just, I think the motivation is just like, yeah, helping our kids, helping each other, wanting each other to succeed. But it's not like I stop and think about like, oh, I have this major willpower to, to try and do things. Like, I think we've just been faced with hard things and, and made a choice to like, do the right thing with it.

• 31:12Ed Mylett?

  You're, you're being humble. You've done more than that. You're not just like, we did, okay, you know, we're getting by, we want to do for our kids. No, millions of people have been moved some way or another by your lives. Right? And we might as well shift to this because, yeah, Dan, you're incredible. But also, your wife has found a way to present your life to the world through the way she shoots the videos, the way she edits the videos, the music with it, the messaging behind it. That is like, I think it's the best I've seen. It's why you're here. So what about the whole social thing? Like, if you were to both talk about that, because a lot of people are like, my life's nowhere near as,

• 31:53Ed Mylett?

  I'm not overcoming being in a wheelchair, having six kids, two IVF babies, a chronic pain disease. But, but at the same time, they could be creating content documenting their life that could change people's lives as well. Right?

• 32:06Speaker 03

  Sure. And it is unreal. Andrea is very special, like, amazing woman for real. And, uh, yeah, I just have to say that. And like, amazing daughter of God. But she is really just so matter of fact in so many things too. Like she was just saying a minute ago, it's like, Daily, like if there's any question on doing something, she like just simplifies things.

• 32:29Ed Mylett?

  Andrea, do you have a background in it? Like, how did you know how to do all this stuff?

• 32:32Speaker 02

  I don't have a background in it, other than just like posting my family along like through the years. But no, I, I think I just, I had an inspiration, like Dan's inspiring. I just started shooting cute videos of him with our kids, you know, holding the babies and just all the sweet things. And, and then I love music. I love, like, I, I'm very passionate about music. I just get really into it and I feel it, like often like crying when I'm trying to listen to music, you know? I, I just feel it. And then, yeah, I think we have a story to tell. But for, for anyone that wants to get into social media, that doesn't feel like they have a story to tell.

• 33:15Speaker 02

  I think we all as humans have the same struggles. Like, there might be a more level of intensity of it, like it might be worse at certain points or whatever. But human emotion, sadness, happiness, joy, depression, anxiety, like all the things, like they're the same across the board. Like, we all experience it. In fact, when we were going through our different traumas, like sometimes people would start talking to us about their problems. And then they'll be like, oh, but I can't talk to you about mine, like yours is much worse. And I'm like, no, like you're feeling the same emotions I'm feeling, like they're all the same. So people that don't feel like they have a story, like you do have a story in the mundane things of everyday life.

• 33:57Speaker 02

  The hardships of just being a mom and waking up every day and sleep deprivation and all the things, like everybody has a story to tell. So if I had to give advice to someone that was wanting to start social media, it's just, one, be real and completely authentic. Because I, I have never to this day staged a moment for our videos. I, I record real life things and then I put it to music and put words on it. Two, just post consistently. You have to be consistent at it and that's what, that's what keeps it moving.

• 34:30Ed Mylett?

  What's consistent? Every day?

• 34:31Speaker 02

  When I, when I first started, I posted probably three or four times a week. Lately, I haven't been posting near that much, but yeah, I, it depends on who you ask. Some people are like, you need to post three to five times a day. I haven't. I've only ever posted a few times a week.

• 34:47Ed Mylett?

  What made you, with the heaviness of your life? Right? Say, we want to have two more babies. Like, what made you do that?

• 34:55Speaker 03

  I was actually doing some work at our, one of our temples and worked there regularly. But like, I think I was just more like spiritually connected. I just kept having this prompting, even though my, my physical, normal human brain and body was like, dude, you don't, you don't need more babies. You're already old as crap anyways. Like, you know, you're not getting to do this. And, and then like, um, you know, I had talked, I basically had talked Andrea out of the idea. Like, she was like, let's have babies. And I was like, no, we, we, we are way too screwed up to have babies. And I was like, who knows, like, what we're gonna, if we're even gonna be together. Like, that was just like the real, you know, I've been divorced twice. She's been divorced twice. This is round three for both of us. It's just like,

• 35:39Speaker 03

  I had to look at that, I feel like. But then I kept having this prompting, just like, dude, you need to have another baby. You're not done. You're like, and so finally, like, one night we were laying in bed and I was like, it was eating at me and I was like, um, hey babe, I keep on having this feeling like that we need to have like another baby. And she was just like, I was like thinking she was like, that there would be glitter falling from the ceiling. She'd be jumping my bones and you know, like, all sorts of good stuff. She was just like, are you kidding me? I was like, whoa, wait, wait, are you awake? Or, you know, is you like, no, I just said, you know, you want, let's have a, I think we need to have a baby. But no, she was just like, I don't know if I'm ready for that, but.

• 36:21Speaker 02

  Well, I had, I had spent years having fertility struggles and all I wanted was more babies, more babies. And yeah, I had convinced myself, I have MS, we're both older, all of our kids are finally in school. So we have some free time. Like, I had convinced myself for the first time in my adult life that I didn't want any more kids. So it was quite the shock when he did that, but.

• 36:43Ed Mylett?

  So they had two, everybody. Like, everything they do, they do more than normal people.

• 36:47Speaker 03

  That was a whole nother story.

• 36:48Speaker 02

  It was all divinely directed, is the answer.

• 36:51Speaker 03

  So it was crazy.

• 36:52Speaker 02

  And, and now we know why. I mean, it gave purpose to Dan being up and at night, all night with pain. He was able to be rocking babies and experiencing all those sweet moments when he was up anyways. And it, it took his mind off of the pain and gave it, like, it replaced it with something just so beautiful. And I mean, that's just the start of the blessings that they've been to our family, but.

• 37:14Ed Mylett?

  Whoa. You're telling me that one of the blessings of having these babies is it gave him something to do with his chronic pain at night when he was up and excruciating pain was rocking his babies? That's what you're telling me? Yeah, absolutely. Oh, my goodness. Okay. You guys are, I'm gonna start crying. So, okay. What do your kids think of all this? Is this just normal to them?

• 37:34Speaker 02

  We have, uh, mixed views amongst our kids. Some of them are excited about it because they don't like attention and some of them are good with it, but I've tried to be very, very careful with my family. Uh, if you'll notice in our videos, like anytime our kids are in it, I make sure that they're with us and they're in our arms and they're close to us and, and I am very careful about what they look like. And with our older kids, I ask their permission. If they're ever in anything, I ask their permission first. And it, it's a big responsibility, I think, to make sure to keep your family safe. And there's, there's been some times where I've doubted whether or not it's actually the right move to be putting our family out there as much as we do.

• 38:14Speaker 02

  It's kind of scary, especially with the different horrible things that happen online and pedophilia and all, you know, all the horrible things that it's just scary sometimes, but I, I think there's, I don't want to dim our light because of my fear of the evil that's out there. I want to put good into the world and I've had a battle with it. It's been a struggle as a mom.

• 38:41Ed Mylett?

  It is. Yeah.

• 38:43Speaker 02

  But ultimately, it's like, I do not want the evil people to dim the light. I want to put positive out there and I want to be that source. And like Dan was saying, like, even if there was only one person that had written us and said that their life was changed by our content, like, that would be worth all the work that we've put into it. But there's not. We have thousands of people and it's so overwhelming in a really positive way, but.

• 39:11Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Well, I'm one of them. I wrote you. I wrote you. I said, hey, you're inspiring me. When you have a situation like you have six kids and obviously day to day things that aren't as easy as some people have it, right? Do you live day to day or do you have like goals and plans as a family? You know, for the year or the five years, or is it just like day to day? We're just trying to be good people, put out a good message, live our lives. Like, how do you two think?

• 39:40Speaker 03

  I think we are goal oriented. Like, I think we have to look way down the road. A year, three years, five years, like that's what keeps you going, like all the way to to eternity. You know, and that's why, you know, our our relationship has been strengthening as we like work together. And we definitely have uh goals and and things to shoot for, whether it's hey, let's, we want to go on a family vacation. Like, what do we need to do to make this happen? And and then we're always thinking of, you know, the next thing with our, you know, even with our social media, like got to do this and then get our office and, you know, we're always like have, we have almost too many things ahead.

• 40:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, many aspirations.

• 40:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:20Speaker 02

  My my answer would be completely different than that. I would say sometimes we live like hour to hour. I felt like we're just taking it a day at a time. We do have lots of things that we aspire to, but our to do list is so long and we have so many things to take care of in the house and everything else. We really take it a day at a time because tomorrow we could be in the hospital again.

• 40:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  And so I I really have learned over the last couple of years, especially last year, Dan had a scare that I thought we were gonna lose him for sure. I was the, I thought for sure, for sure, we were gonna lose him. And I was pleading with God, like, please, like, let him come back and I promise, like, I'll be better.

• 41:05Speaker 02

  I haven't lived up to that as much as I should.

• 41:08Ed Mylett?

  You're you're gonna overly humble, but okay.

• 41:11Speaker 02

  As we've had like scares, health scares. Been been so close to losing him and everything else like I really have tried to like take it a day at a time and just be thankful for what we have like I'm yesterday I was working in the yard all day. I have MS and usually I can't be out in the heat and I get fatigued and everything else. I worked in the yard for like eight hours yesterday doing yard work and I was so thankful like the whole time I'm like I'm so thankful that I have the energy to be out here right now like like

• 41:46Speaker 03

  Wait a minute, did you just say, did you say you have MS?

• 41:50Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 41:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 41:54Ed Mylett?

  You just sort of, you just sort of like slide that in there like.

• 41:59Ed Mylett?

  You know what's so, I'm gonna tell you, you're odd. You're odd because like you truly don't think there's anything remarkable about the two of you. Yet like this dude's almost died several times, right? He's in a wheelchair. You have MS, you got a hundred kids, you add two IPF babies to the and yet like you do have this pressure. I know what you're talking about. I don't want to make the kids public. Should we put our family out there? But someone just didn't take their own life because we have it and someone else just started a business because of it and someone else went back to church because of it and these, this couple's gonna stay married because of it.

• 42:38Ed Mylett?

  You are remarkable, like just accept it. It's crazy what you're doing. You have MS on top of everything? Like you just throw that in towards the end of the interview?

• 42:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, sorry.

• 42:51Ed Mylett?

  My gosh. There's a, it's hard when you have somebody on who like just really is unique and doesn't know it. Is getting them to embrace it themselves and I love the fact that you're, you know, you're in touch with all the things that you're not great at. But I have to, like, one of the things that struck me was, okay, they've got this blended family. It's not just blended, it's also blended lifestyles too. By the way, you guys have to go to their social to see Dan's work. It's just unreal what this dude creates. Beautiful work. So you know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing like on repeat all the time, that sweater that kind of just goes with everything, or these perfect pair of pants, those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy, and that's what Quince does best. Quince focuses on high-quality wardrobe staples with premium materials like

• 43:36Ed Mylett?

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• 44:20Ed Mylett?

  Let me ask you a last question. This is just, I'm just gonna open it to you. By the way, it's been an extraordinary time to get to know the two of you. You're more special than you think you are, just so you know. I accept that you are perfect people, and that you're very in touch with your imperfections, which is probably why I like you so much. But I'm not as big a stud as you, Dan, and, or as a studette as you are, Andrea, and I mean that. Like, you really inspire me. You do, okay? And I want you to just take that, because you've earned it. Every day of your life, in the good and the bad times, you've earned it, and your vulnerability, and your honesty in this interview. If someone was manning the camera, let's just say, behind you right now, and the interview was over,

• 45:02Ed Mylett?

  and they go, "Man, that was incredible. I'm going through a really hard time right now." Is there any advice you could give me? I'm just curious what each of you might say to that person if they're just really at a point in their life where they're hurting. What you might say to them, what words of encouragement or words of advice you would give them?

• 45:18Speaker 02

  Honestly, I would say to get on your knees. Connecting to God is the only thing that can make you feel the peace that's not of this world. That's bigger than the problems, that's bigger than the trials, that's bigger than the heartache, the depression, the grieving. Like, the peace from God is bigger than all of that. So, if I'm being honest, that's the only answer I could give.

• 45:41Ed Mylett?

  I love that.

• 45:42Speaker 03

  Everything else just comes second to it, no matter what that person would be trying to say they're going or going through or experiencing. It's just, that's going to be your backbone, your new strength, like, work from there out. And things are gonna, things are gonna line up, like, things will just, I mean, it's not easy. You think this is just not gonna happen overnight. It's a, you know, a real struggle and a real, uh, work. Nothing's just handed to you, that's for sure. And I know that that's where my new backbone came from, so. I tell them to find a woman, uh, like I did, I think behind anybody that's successful as a man.

• 46:26Speaker 03

  Like, they've got some, a woman that's behind them that's charting it up and like is the brains and the, the, the spirit behind a lot of it. Like, through history, through different people that I, that I've listened or studied or understood. It's, there's always that amazing woman that's just in the, in the background that doesn't get all the, the credit. But it's like, she's the reason why you're succeeding, you know, or.

• 46:50Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 46:51Speaker 03

  She's been such a blessing to everybody and this is really.

• 46:56Ed Mylett?

  I love watching the big guy get all emotional here. This is cool. I like watching that. It's good.

• 47:01Speaker 03

  I don't know what you're talking, it's these lights in here.

• 47:04Ed Mylett?

  Is it the lights? I don't think it's the lights. Nice try. First off, thank you. Second off, I wish continued blessings to your family. And, um, you know, when you have times where you're doubting whether you should be doing what you're doing, I, I just want you to reflect on today. You just know, I, I believe you should be. And, uh, there'll be some negative that comes with being on social media. There'll be some lack of privacy. But the net return in human beings, because people matter and things don't, as I know the two of you know more than I do, you're making a serious difference in people's lives. And it's not just with your words, it's with your actions and your deeds. And I, I love the fact that you talk about the fact that not everything's perfect all the time. It

• 47:46Ed Mylett?

  makes it real. It's not some Lifetime movie that you're living. You're living an actual life, very, very inspired by you. Everyone should go where? The Wheelchair Dad on social?

• 47:56Speaker 02

  Yes. If you go to thewheelchairsdad.com, we have links to all of our socials. But yeah, our handle is at thewheelchairsdad on everything.

• 48:04Speaker 03

  And then Andrea has one that's Mrs. Kotter now too, but with it, it's like her in her perspective on stuff too, as.

• 48:14Speaker 02

  This started it.

• 48:16Ed Mylett?

  I've seen it. I saw it today. It's a great idea. All right, you guys, just so you know, people like this exist in the world. And so when you see all the bad, all the strife, all the victims, all the blaming, all the fighting, all the dissension in the world, just know that quietly every single day, there are these two people and their precious six children, just trying to live a better life, just trying to make a difference in the world, just trying to be good people. And they have ups and downs, just like you do. But when you, when you start to think there's not great people left in the world, just know that the Cotters exist and you could find them every single day on social media to just breathe some life into your soul. And that's what they do for me. Thanks you guys. It was awesome today.

• 49:01Speaker 02

  Thank you so much.

• 49:01Speaker 03

  Thank you, Ed. Appreciate it.

• 49:02Ed Mylett?

  What a great conversation. God bless you, everybody.