daninu12345 has chosen a Ninjago set that helped him through a difficult time in his family and prompted him to follow a particular career path:

When I was a kid, my older brother struggled with Leukaemia. It was always a part of my life, and I always knew something was off, but it was somewhat normal for me as I grew up around it. But as I grew older, I became more aware of what this condition meant, and his relapses became more serious. As many can relate to, during times of uncertainty, LEGO was there to distract me.

I remember one day, myself, my sister and father went downtown to visit my brother in the hospital. It was his most serious relapse yet, and I hadn't seen much of him, but when I got there it was really tough for me to be in that room. I love my brother, but I get bad anxiety when it comes to medical stuff, so I went into the hallway. My mother had given me this set as a gift a few minutes before, so as I sat in the hallway, I just stared at the box art for probably around 20 minutes. I don't remember much else from that day besides this set.

When I got home that night, I built the set and loved it, and started watching the Ninjago TV series that night as well. From there, Ninjago became a huge part of my life, and eventually lead to me beginning a Ninjago stop-motion series a few years later on my YouTube channel, which became quite popular. I was motivated to keep going, and my growing love for film production introduced to me through videos has led me to pursue film as a career, which I'm in college for as we speak.

My brother managed to fully recover 5 years after the date I described, and he's doing great today. His illness definitely affected us all as a family, but was something that uniquely changed me as a person, and unknowingly lead me to what I hope can be a suitable career!

A lot of my love for filmmaking comes from my love for Ninjago, which I can partially trace back to this set.

18 comments on this article

By zeah209 in United States, 19 May 2020 20:02

I’m about to cry...beautiful!

By Alltimefol in United States, 19 May 2020 20:08

link to stopmotion videos?

By colby_figcustoms in United States, 19 May 2020 20:18

It's amazing how a box of bricks can change lives. Glad to hear your brother is well!

By Lordmoral in Puerto Rico, 19 May 2020 20:21

Thanks for this story and we are gald your brother made it. Reading the name of this set reminds me and all of us about the impending Ideas Blacksmith Shop and how it can be to the Castle line what Pirates of Barracuda was to the Pirate line.

By zeah209 in United States, 19 May 2020 20:28

@Alltimefol said:
"link to stopmotion videos?"

https://www.youtube.com/user/DanTinaglia/videos

By Polynices in United States, 19 May 2020 21:17

Wonderful story.

To possibly save others the search: https://brickset.com/sets/2508-1/Blacksmith-Shop

By daninu12345 in United States, 19 May 2020 21:24

@colby_figcustoms said:
"It's amazing how a box of bricks can change lives. Glad to hear your brother is well!"

A box of bricks really can change a life. Thanks!

By Mr__Thrawn in United States, 19 May 2020 21:25

This is an excellent set, I loved this whole 2011 Ninjago line in general, and that’s a lovely story. I was also just the right age when Ninjago was first released, and became instantly enamored with it, so this set and others hold great nostalgic value for me as well.

By Norikins in United States, 19 May 2020 22:21

At first when I heard this prompted him to follow a particular career path I was expecting him to become a blacksmith! Lol.

By Icequeen_99 in United States, 20 May 2020 01:51

Ninjago rocks!!

By Brickyoyo in United States, 20 May 2020 03:18

Heyyy wait a minute... That's DTinaglia. Nice! Been watching your videos for a few years now and that's a really nice story. Glad to hear you're all doing well now.

By LegosRNoice in United States, 20 May 2020 03:47

i am having a this was set moment and why did i not know?

By Brickalili in United Kingdom, 20 May 2020 05:55

I am so glad this story had a happy ending

By Andhe in United Kingdom, 20 May 2020 07:06

That's one of the most moving 'meet the member' stories I've read. To be honest I've started skipping them... but this one drew me in, it's great to hear how a lego set helped you through a tough time - which I'm guessing might be true for a lot of members (in perhaps smaller ways) and great that the story had a good outcome for you and your brother.

By Darth_TNT in Netherlands, 20 May 2020 07:17

A touching story, I'm glad it had a happy ending. :)

By LegoDavid in Romania, 20 May 2020 08:18

I got this set when it came out, so I feel quite nostalgic for it, even though looking back at it now, the build of the set could have been a lot better. The function is still pretty cool though.

By Brick_t_ in France, 20 May 2020 10:45

Very touching, affecting story. Full of hope too!

By Jena in France, 22 May 2020 11:54

Thank you for sharing!
I like this set too ; it will be a reminder of your story now.