Former Children’s Minnesota patient donates Lego MRI machine to put kids at ease

Henry Franken is 18 years old today, but when he was just 10 he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Thanks to Children’s Minnesota, Franken’s tumor was gone within a week — but a long recovery process followed. During treatment, his passion for Lego helped him get through it.

“During my surgery, people got me Lego, and my dad got me the big Lego Death Star,” Franken said. “Part of my recovery was building that, and that’s what kept me going.”

Now Franken is giving back.

He created a Lego model of an MRI to help kids better understand the machines and show them it’s not that scary.