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'Hand Solo': the one-armed boy who built a Lego prosthesis
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2017 Guinness World record holder and 2020 Lego Masters France winner, Andorran university student David Aguilar, 22, affected by Poland syndrome, poses with his self-built prosthetic arm, made with Lego pieces, in Sant Cugat del Valles, near Barcelona on September 9, 2021. (AFP/Pau Barrena)
D
avid Aguilar was five when he first discovered Lego, entering a world where it didn't matter he was missing his forearm, and four years later, he built his first prosthesis with it.
Now on the verge of finishing a degree in bioengineering, he dreams of working to help other children who, like him, were born different.
Aguilar was born without a right forearm as a result of Poland syndrome, a rare disorder which can cause severe abnormalities in the shoulder, arm or hand, but it has not stopped him from living his life.
Now 22, this Andorran student -- who has been obsessed with robots since he was a child -- has little free time: aside from finishing his degree, he gives motivational speeches, has written a book and taken part in an innovation conference run by NASA.
But getting here hasn't been easy and his face hardens as he recalls the years when building things with Lego was his only refuge from bullying.
"When I was a teenager, I carried on playing with Lego because it was a way of escaping the bullying, it really helped me ignore all the jibes I had to put up with every day," he told AFP at his university residence near Barcelona.
During his teens, he set up a YouTube channel calling himself "Hand Solo", a play on the name of smuggler-pilot hero Han Solo from the early Star Wars films.
