He broke records for walking barefoot on legos. Now, he's donating lego sets to children's hospitals

All of us have had the painful experience of walking barefoot on a lego and screaming in pain. It is for sure very uncomfortable but not for Russell Cassevah. He broke several Guinness world records and walked half a mile barefoot on legos. The path was covered in sharp lego bricks and he successfully managed to break the record. Moreover, in 2021 he was part of a five-member group that walked on two miles of legos and created a new world record, reports The Washington Post.

Cassevah's obsession with legos is not limited to making or breaking records but rather goes back to when he was four years old. His mom got his first set after a trip to the doctor's office. Most of us do grow out of loving legos as much as we did as kids, but Cassevah didn't let that happen and is now popularly associated with legos. He said, "The first time, Jimmy Fallon made a joke about me on ‘The Tonight Show.' He said that I beat every dad walking to the bathroom at night. That made me feel great."

He is not a superhero who can't feel pain while walking on legos and describe it as "like my feet were on fire." His feet and soles would get cut while walking but he never quit. I blocked out the pain and just kept going," he added. Following his first world record, Cassevah decided to utilize Legos for good, quitting his day job and touring the country to donate free Legos to children's hospitals through the organization Little Bricks Charity.

Each year, he utilizes donations to purchase and distribute over $120,000 in Lego sets to 29 children's hospitals around the country. Cassevah claimed he was inspired to launch Little Bricks in 2019 after walking on Lego bricks to raise donations for Fairy Bricks, a British organization that provides free brick sets to children. Someone stole 2,000 Lego sets from one of the group's delivery vehicles in 2017.

He said, "After I learned about the Fairy Bricks theft, I did some research about what Legos do for kids in hospitals. I knew then I’d found my purpose." Cassevah's life was altered in 2020 when he met Tessa, a 1-year-old child with brain cancer. He said, "She had the cutest laugh and this little mohawk going down the middle of her head. When she didn’t make it, it rocked my life. I was devastated."

Cassevah claimed he shaved his head into a mohawk, left his job, and cashed up his retirement funds to devote full time to Little Bricks in Tessa's memory. Cassevah also recently returned from a trip to Arkansas Children's Northwest Hospital in Springdale, where he gave $9,000 in new Lego sets to children. Hewitt Kahana, one of them, was in the hospital for his third cancer treatment when he noticed Cassevah with his blue mohawk seated at a table covered with new Lego pieces.

Cassevah claimed that when he witnessed Hewitt's excitement, he offered him a Lego Galaxy Explorer kit and asked if he could help him construct it. Cassevah claimed Hewitt's smile stuck with him as he traveled 14 hours back to Virginia. He said, "When I build with kids, my goal is to create fun memories and give them a voice and let them talk." He added, "My time with him reinforced my feeling that I’m on the right path."