Paraplegic man and fiancée's creative pregnancy announcement goes viral

What started out as a joke turned into a viral sensation for a paraplegic man and his fiancée, as the pair entered their hilarious pregnancy announcement photos into a contest in hopes of winning a free wedding in Laguna Beach, California.

The young couple, who live in Amherst, Ohio, wanted to show off their personalities. Todd Krieg, 23, who became paralyzed from the chest down after a dirt bike accident in 2014, knew just what he wanted to do.

The resulting photo shows mom-to-be Amanda Diesen holding an ultrasound image of the fetus while Krieg smiles and gives a thumbs-up. Scrawled in chalk on the wall behind them are the words: “It still works.”

“He loves that kind of humor,” Diesen, 25, told CBS News of the unconventional message. “I said, ‘That is pretty funny. Let’s just do that.’”

“We wanted to have our friends enjoy this announcement,” she added. “We didn’t want to do something that’s already being done.”

The photo of their announcement went viral after users shared it on Reddit and Imgur.

Although it may seem inappropriate to some, Diesen said the photo captures their story perfectly. The couple, who met about a year ago while Diesen worked as a recovery specialist trainer at Project Walk Paralysis Recovery Centers — a spinal cord rehab facility in Carlsbad, California — never expected to conceive a child naturally.

“I figured we would have to do something else, like in vitro,” Diesen said. “It was a shock this actually happened. Doctors said it would be very rare.”

At first, Diesen and Krieg were overwhelmed when they learned Diesen was pregnant in December. But with support from their parents, and now thousands of strangers from all over the world, they feel like they can conquer anything.

“We feel like nothing but positive things have come with announcing it,” Diesen said. “I was afraid of being judged... but once we announced it, the influx and amount of love and support we’ve received has been so overwhelming. There’s so many people supporting us.”

And Diesen, who is due on August 6, said she’s glad their story is giving other couples in similar situations hope.

“It just brings me to tears just reading all the positive support and how we’ve impacted people positively,” Diesen said. “It’s overwhelming, but it’s exciting. It’ll be a fun story to tell.”