A father who regained the ability to walk after a serious brain injury surprised his children with the milestone, and the moment has resonated with millions of viewers online.
The man sustained the brain injury in a car accident and spent three years in recovery, a period during which he was unable to speak or walk, according to the TikTok account @glittersparkles901, which posted the video.
The video shows the father walking through a room while his older daughter and younger son are watching television on the couch. Both children initially appear absorbed in the screen before doing a double take as he passes by.
"Daddy!" the daughter exclaims, "you're walking!"
"Yeah, he can walk!" the son cheers, and both children rise to follow him out of the house.
"Dad you're walking! You're actually walking!" they continue.
The son then asks his father to hold his hand as they walk from the house into the pine forest surrounding it.
The clip, shared on TikTok, has been liked 1.7 million times, shared 40,000 times, and has drawn 16,000 comments. Among the responses, one commenter observed that the children's words — "hold my hand, you're walking! be careful" — were likely the same things the father had said to them when they were first learning to walk.
The TikTok caption notes that the family is still praying for the father's speech to return.