According to Christina Stephens the experience is “more like stepping on 200 legos that poke your leg in a bunch of different places.. kinda like a bed of needles.”
Stephens became an overnight Internet star when she filmed herself constructing a prosthetic leg out of Lego. The video was posted to YouTube in June and has since had about 1.3 million views.
Under the pseudonym of ‘AmputeeOT’, Stephens posts tutorial videos covering everything from how to swim with or without a prosthetic leg to dealing with phantom limb pain.
Stephens lost her leg in January when her car slipped off its jack while she was changing the brake pads.
Initially she thought that her foot was just broken, but after a few weeks it began to look worse. Her surgeon thought there might be a way to save the foot, but couldn’t guarantee that it would still function properly.
After researching her options, and faced with the possibility of constant pain in her foot, Stephens decided to have the amputation. Her foot was removed in February.
The idea for the Lego leg came about when Stephens was joking with her colleagues about what kind of a prosthetic leg she would get. A pirate and zombie leg were mentioned, but the suggestion to build one out of Legos inspired her to actually try it out.
While the Lego leg doesn’t actually work as a prosthetic leg, it just crumbles Stephens likes to think of it as “a metaphor for rebuilding your life after a disability”.
With her educational videos, Stephens hopes to de-stigmatise amputation and has plans for many more. She even started work on Lego Leg 2.0 with movable pieces, though it’s still just for show.
Perhaps in the future we’ll see a functional prosthetic released by Lego. What amputee, young or old, wouldn’t love to have a customisable prosthetic?
Image: YouTube
