grum64

In 1983 at the age of 19 whilst on leave from the UK Merchant Navy I had a motorcycle accident in which my neck was broken. I was left a Tetraplegic, paralysed from the shoulders down with no at use at all of my hands and impaired movement of my arms.

After almost 10 months in hospital I went home and from then on spent most of my days out with friends, listening to music, reading or 'tinkering' about on my computer. At the time I thought I was happy and I was but looking back, I wasn't content. I was doing nothing productive with my life.

In 2008 the anti-tip device on my electric wheelchair failed while I was going up a ramp and my 'chair went over backwards. The impact of my head on the concrete paving damaged my hearing and left me with very bad tinnitus. My moods changed completely, I was no longer the cheerful person I was. I was later diagnosed with ptsd & clinical depression.

A few months passed and then one day my Grandson Jake, who was 4 at the time, was playing with a little LEGO Police car on the table but he knocked it on the floor and of course it broke into pieces. He was really upset & asked me to put it back together for him. I told him I was really sorry but I couldn't do it. Time & time again he asked and each time I gave him the same answer but he kept on. I can hear him even now, 'You can do it Grum, I know you can'. He really believed that I could fix it for him so not wanting to disappoint him I said I'd try. He gathered up the pieces and sorted them out into groups on the table in front of me.

After half an hour or so spent staring at the pile of pieces I stretched out my arm and wedged a piece of the Lego between my fingers and after much huffing and puffing and using my mouth I raised it up and onto another piece. A bit of wiggling and more than a little luck had those couple of bricks more or less attached. Jake was so excited.

After persevering for almost a week I'd put the 20 or so pieces of the car together. Jake was over the moon and to be honest I was really proud of myself. As an added bonus, I found that the concentration really helped my tinnitus.

Over the next few months Jake bought me several more of his broken LEGO models to fix, each bigger than the last and after a few weeks fix them I did. Little did I know he was deliberately breaking them! Somehow he knew that I needed this, that it'd help me and how right he was. From those sets I went on to build him other sets, usually Police, Castle and Star Wars themed.

With these 'under my belt' I thought I'd give myself a challenge and try something a bit bigger to build. This is when I came across Technic and decided to give it a go. I had a look on Amazon and saw an 1800 piece Crane Truck. I'd not seen anything like it. It was a great looking set and one I thought would give me the challenge I was looking for so I bought it.

After 22 weeks, building for roughly 6 hours a day for 5 or 6 days a week it was done. 1800+ parts all done mostly by mouth. The satisfaction and pride I felt upon completing it was undescribable. The stickers were the only things I didn't do. 

I relish the challenge building LEGO, especially Technic, provides and get a massive sense of accomplishment with each and every set I build.

I can honestly say that LEGO has completely changed my life.

Since then I've built (in no particular order):

8110 UniMog (with full PF RC mod)

42009 Mobile Crane (full PF RC mod)

9398 Crawler

9396 Rescue Helicopter

8725 Bulldozer

8043 Excavator

8053 Mobile Crane

8461 Williams F1

8674 Ferrari F1

8458 Silver Champion

8285 Tow Truck

9397 Logging Truck

41999 4x4 Crawler

8466 4 x 4 Off Roader

8274 Combine Harvester

8416 Fork Lift

8048 Buggy

8262 Quad Bike

42052 Heavy Lift Helicopter

42007 Dirt Bike

42048 Race Kart

42040 Fire Plane

42008 Service Truck

8292 Cherry Picker

42024 Skip Truck

8109 Flatbed Truck

42025 Cargo Plane

10220 VW Camper

10242 Mini Cooper

10252 VW Beetle

21307 Caterham 620R

8880 Supercar

8868 Air Tech Claw Rig

8063 Tractor & Trailer

42039 24hrs Race Car

42030 Volvo Front Loader

42029 Customised Pickup Truck

42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs

42054 Claas Xerion 5000

42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator

42056 Porsche GT3

7662 Star Wars MTT

Numerous smaller Technic sets

All the Racers 1:10 & 1:17 cars

I’ve also designed (using LDD and stud.io) and built stuff for our Grandchildren.