LEGO as therapy for brain injured

SteveGrenard

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British race car driver says Lego Saved him after a near fatal accident.

Any Lego fans think this has possibilities?



And, by rights, Richard Hammond should be dead; natural selection usually makes sure that anyone driving a car at 288mph - regardless of crashes - probably shouldn't hang around on the planet for too long. Somehow, though, Richard Hammond managed to cheat death when his British land speed record attempt went spectacularly arse-upwards, and now he's given his first interview about the accident. And what saved Richard Hammond's life? Paramedics? Air ambulances? Seatbelts? No. It was Lego.

(snipped)

What saved Richard Hammond was Lego. Sadly this doesn't mean that doctors rebuilt Richard Hammond's brain with pieces of interlocking Danish plastic - although how cool would that be? - but that he played it a lot while he was getting better:

"Lego saved my life. It's really good therapy for a brain injury. I was a Lego fiend when I was eight and, suddenly, it was all I wanted to do again. James May sent me a pack of Supercars Top Trumps. I played with Mindy [his wife] and we were addicted. While I couldn't remember the day, my name or the doctor's name, I could remember the specific capacity of a Pagani Zonda
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http://www.hecklerspray.com/richard-hammond-saved-from-death-by-some-lego/20065469.php
 
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Steve,

Richard Hammond is not a "race car driver", he's one of the presenters of a humourous TV programme which is (mostly) about cars and motoring. As a result, many things he may say may be for maximum comedic effect.

Also, the report is taken from The Mirror which is a UK tabloid newspaper. As a result it may have been more focused on snappy content than medical accuracy
 
It's the mental stimulation, not the legos themselves.

Although if playing with legos were a religious practice, I'm sure right now somebody here would be sermonizing over the "miraculous power of legos."

I love legos too, btw. Got a huge crate of them in my closet.
 
The Don said:
Steve,

Richard Hammond is not a "race car driver", he's one of the presenters of a humourous TV programme which is (mostly) about cars and motoring. As a result, many things he may say may be for maximum comedic effect.

Also, the report is taken from The Mirror which is a UK tabloid newspaper. As a result it may have been more focused on snappy content than medical accuracy
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Okay thanks. So driving a car at over 200 mph is not race car driving. In the U.S. it would be, I guess in the UK it is not. So you think he didnt have this crash and have a brain injury and was faking the whole interview for comedic effect? Wow, that's pretty sick, not comedic or funny at all. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Yes he did have a crash.

Yes he did have a brain injury.

Ascribing his recovery to LEGO and Top Trumps - comedic effect
 
Some how I don't think he was being funny or comedic but if you do that's fine. Yes there was a serious crash and brain injury which I checked on. You actually mislead me with your disdaining post.


September 2006 car crash


At approximately 5:45pm BST on 20 September 2006, Hammond was seriously injured in a car crash while filming for Top Gear at the former RAF Elvington airfield near York. He was piloting a jet-powered Vampire car, which is theoretically capable of travelling at 370mph.[7]

Edited by Darat: 
Breach of Rule 4 removed.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hammond
 
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SteveGrenard said:
Okay thanks. So driving a car at over 200 mph is not race car driving. In the U.S. it would be, I guess in the UK it is not.
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Driving a fast car is not necessarily "race car driving" (there would, for example, generally need to be some sort of race involved), but that is beside the point. A TV presenter who drives fast cars (and possibly even racing cars on occasion) is not the same thing as a race car driver.
So you think he didnt have this crash and have a brain injury and was faking the whole interview for comedic effect?
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Did anyone suggest this?
Wow, that's pretty sick, not comedic or funny at all.
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It certainly would be if anyone had suggested this. Oh, wait a moment, you did, didn't you.
Thanks for the heads up.
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Now that you know that this sort of thing is considered offensive...
 
SteveGrenard said:
The Don said:
Richard Hammond is not a "race car driver", he's one of the presenters of a humourous TV programme which is (mostly) about cars and motoring.
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Okay thanks. So driving a car at over 200 mph is not race car driving.
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Let's see how the Wikipedia article you linked to describes him:
Richard Mark Hammond (born December 19, 1969 in Birmingham) is a British television presenter best known for co-presenting Top Gear along with James May and Jeremy Clarkson from 2002 onwards, and co-hosting the live annual motoring show, MPH, in Earls Court and NEC Birmingham, alongside Tiff Needell and Jeremy Clarkson.
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We love Lego, as in my Autistic son and I. For my son Lego's provide hours of creative fun. I can see how they would be of great benefit for someone having suffered brain trama.

I too wish they were less expensive.
:)
 
The only thing that is offensive around here is that by implication a poster from England who I trusted to know more about this victim than I do suggests he was being comedic when he referred to his brain injury and his use of LEGO as therapy. I iniitally found it very disturbing and then on checking found this man did have a brain injury, did have a serious accident driving a race car, and in fact did use LEGO as therapy. No comedy here. Of course the moderator Darat expunged the bit about LEGO when he decided to edit my wikipedia ref. SO as a matter of record those who are interested in this can find the LEGO reference in the wiki article.

The subject is about LEGO as therapy. I am underwhelmed about all the nit picking of definitions of race car driving and drivers. Or is LEGO for some reason not a subject anyone wants talked about here?
 
Frankly, the use of LEGO as therapy isn't anything spectacular. Scott Adams used a nursery rhyme to help heal his brain. Whatever works for the individual.
 
Nathyn said:
It's the mental stimulation, not the legos themselves.

Although if playing with legos were a religious practice, I'm sure right now somebody here would be sermonizing over the "miraculous power of legos."

I love legos too, btw. Got a huge crate of them in my closet.
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Hmmmm, The Church of the Holy Lego...

Why am I getting a devious and profitable idea here?
I know I'd go...
 
Mojo said:
So why bother claiming that driving a fast car is "race car driving"? Well, it is Danish...
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Well I guess it's a matter of perspective. Mine is anyone driving a car designed to go in excess of 200, closer to 300 mph is driving a race
car or a fast car. The fact that he is racing against a land speed record
and intends to break that record (which is his record in GB already) is
also a matter of perspective. I think of it as racing.
 
SteveGrenard said:
Well I guess it's a matter of perspective. Mine is anyone driving a car designed to go in excess of 200, closer to 300 mph is driving a race
car or a fast car. The fact that he is racing against a land speed record
and intends to break that record (which is his record in GB already) is
also a matter of perspective. I think of it as racing.
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Just to carry on the nit-picking (sorry).

The record wasn't Richard Hammonds - he was driving the car that held the record.

He does drive fast cars, but he's a journalist. The programme he is on employ a specialist racing driver to (for example) get the best lap times from cars being tested.

The only thing that is offensive around here is that by implication a poster from England who I trusted to know more about this victim than I do suggests he was being comedic when he referred to his brain injury and his use of LEGO as therapy.
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I didn't read the post from The Don in the same way. There was no questioning that the accident had occurred, or that Richard Hammond had suffered brain injuries.

The only point where the comedic effect would come in is where he attributes his recovery to playing with lego. This was, from memory, certainly said in a lighthearted manner in interviews with him. This is in keeping with the type of show he is on and his interaction with his co-presenters, one of whom came to visit him in hospital while he was still recovering to tell him what a rubbish driver he was.
 
SteveGrenard said:
The only thing that is offensive around here is that by implication a poster from England who I trusted to know more about this victim than I do suggests he was being comedic when he referred to his brain injury and his use of LEGO as therapy. I iniitally found it very disturbing and then on checking found this man did have a brain injury, did have a serious accident driving a race car, and in fact did use LEGO as therapy. No comedy here. Of course the moderator Darat expunged the bit about LEGO when he decided to edit my wikipedia ref. SO as a matter of record those who are interested in this can find the LEGO reference in the wiki article.

The subject is about LEGO as therapy. I am underwhelmed about all the nit picking of definitions of race car driving and drivers. Or is LEGO for some reason not a subject anyone wants talked about here?
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To be honest with you, Steve, just as soon at it was certain that Richard 'Hampster' Hammond was going to be okay, the entire thing has taken on a comedy air, which might contribute to the lightness of tone that might have led you to believe that the whole thing was not being taken seriously.

When Hammond sat up in bed and was told that he's crashed, her reportedly answered 'Oh, was I driving like a twat?'
 
SteveGrenard said:
Well I guess it's a matter of perspective. Mine is anyone driving a car designed to go in excess of 200, closer to 300 mph is driving a race
car or a fast car.
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Sometimes at work I use a toaster, does that make me a chef ?
SteveGrenard said:
.....The fact that he is racing against a land speed record
and intends to break that record (which is his record in GB already) is
also a matter of perspective. I think of it as racing.
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Everyone involved with the programme has insisted that there was never any intention of breaking the UK speed record, not least because there was no one from the sanctioning body on hand on the day

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=196085852&p=y96x86558
 
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