Lego-Max (16.09.2018)

Do you remember Max? This little 2″ high stuffed animal, a long-eared rabbit, helps me raise awareness of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

CRPS is a nasty neuro-inflammatory disease, that I’ve written about often in this section of my blog. I’ve had it for about 2.5 years now, and as time goes by it becomes more & more likely to be permanent.

How does Max help raise awareness? He fits into one of the small pockets of my cycling jerseys (biking shirts); whenever I take a biking break, at one of many local rest stops for cyclists, I pull Max out to take photos of him.

Someone will almost always ask why I’m taking photos of… a stuffed bunny! So I’ll explain that Max’s orange carrot snack is the colour of a rare disease. And that I’m taking photos to raise awareness of that disease. And at this point someone will invariably ask: “Which disease?”

And voilà! I’ll soon be explaining what CRPS is, what can trigger it, what the symptoms are, and what a person should do if a loved one or acquaintance has these symptoms.

I make the story about them, using an imaginary loved one, colleague, cycling buddy… – whatever relationship seems to best fit the specific situation.

Max’s CRPS photos are on Instagram, Twitter, and sometimes even on LinkedIn ,-)

Today’s photos are a bit different; they weren’t taken while on a bike ride. I wrote recently about my physiotherapist’s offbeat suggestion for me to ‘play’ with a Lego set I’d borrowed (for a work-related training event): Physica-Lego therapy.

Well, I’ve been following his suggestion, and have been using Lego as an additional physiotherapy tool. Someone told me I should combine my CRPS stuffed bunny, Max, with some of my Lego creations.

So here you go!