When Sydney father Damien MacRae was diagnosed with skin cancer six years ago, he was determined to spread the sun safety message to children, one Lego brick at a time.
Together with his eight-year old son Aiden, he created a Surf Rescue Lego set that features four sun-smart surf rescuers, and it comes complete with a patrol tower, shark-spotting drone, jet ski and quad bike.
“I have been a Lego fan for more than 30 years and I have always wanted a beach set but Lego never had one,” the 43-year-old told the Daily Telegraph.
“When we were throwing up ideas for this Lego project, Aiden came up the beach set and I said, yes, this is it.”
After receiving 10,000 likes in a crowd-sourcing campaign, it was originally submitted as a LEGO ideas project, with the aim of raising awareness about sun damage, the risk of melanoma and the importance of skin protection.
“It took us eight months to get 10,000 likes for the Lego Idea crowdsourcing and I never thought we will get so many likes,” Damien said.
“All our main characters are connected to the theme and when we got them after we had them customised in England, we were really excited because they were exactly what we wanted.
“We also wanted to highlight the tremendous work done by Australian surf lifesavers, promote the use of sunscreens and be water safe,” he said.
Unfortunately LEGO didn’t go ahead with making it into official Lego merchandise, however the sunscreen-clad minifigures are now available for purchase – as a set or as individual figures – from UK online store Minifigs.
For more information about Damien and Lego Surf Rescue, click here.
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