Man paralyzed in motorcycle crash finds healing through Lego builds

ALASKA (Aging Untold) — Mingo Graham woke up from a coma at Stanford University not knowing what had happened.

A motorcycle crash at 110 mph into a pole broke bones in his neck, leaving him paralyzed below the waist and physically frozen in a twisted position.

“I don’t know what happened. I woke up a few months later from my coma at Stanford University,” Graham said.

Graham did not leave his room for eight months following the crash. He eventually found a path forward through Lego building — completing complicated sets using only a finger, a thumb and his mouth.

Small wins, big recovery

“They give me motivation when I’m unmotivated,” Graham said of the builds.

Aging Untold expert Amy O’Rourke said small, finishable goals can help rebuild a sense of control after trauma.

“You accumulate these small wins — these little senses of accomplishment — so you can settle in and say, ‘I did that,’ and then you can go to the next thing," O’Rourke said. “So you won’t get a feeling of positive accomplishment unless you acknowledge the tiny little steps that you’ve made. No matter what you’re trying to do.”

Graham’s first Lego build was a Harley-Davidson — the same model he was riding at the time of the crash.

Healing from the inside out

O’Rourke said recovery extends beyond the physical.

“I think that physical healing comes when you’re emotionally and spiritually healing,” O’Rourke said. “Trying to get physically well without really working on your insides will cause you to delay, I think, the positive healing that you could be experiencing.”

Graham said the process has taken time.

“It’s taken a while for the peace to come,” he said.

“People are always blown away by my attitude and positivity,” Graham said.