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Vale Middle School Reading Article

Christina Stephens’ “Lego Leg” Video Inspired Amputees (1130L)

Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES using the CLOSE reading

strategies practiced in class. This requires reading of the article three times.

Read the following article carefully and make notes in the margin as you read.

Your notes should include:

o Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main

idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)

o Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.

o Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.

o Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, perspective,

support) and choices affect the article.

Your margin notes are part of your score for this assessment.

Answer the questions carefully in complete sentences unless otherwise instructed.

Student ____________________________Class Period__________________

Christina Stephens' "Lego Leg" video inspires amputees

Notes on my thoughts,

reactions and questions as I

(St. Louis) Christina Stephens filled her parents' basement with Lego castles and pirate

read:

ships as a child. When she put her Lego-building skills to work last month making a

prosthetic leg out of the children's toy, she became a YouTube sensation. Stephens, 31,

lost her left foot in an accident this winter and decided to combine her clinical expertise

as an occupational therapist with her own experience of losing a limb to help others

dealing with amputations.

Stephens, who is small, athletic and seemingly always upbeat, began a series of videos

and a Facebook page under the name "AmputeeOT," in which she addresses issues that

many new amputees struggle with. Among them are how to swim with and without a

prosthetic, deal with phantom limb pain, and clean an amputation site and prosthetic

liner. But it was her construction of a prosthetic leg out of hundreds of Lego pieces that

made her an Internet star. The YouTube video has more than 1.3 million views since it

was posted in early July.

"I thought my Legos video had some viral potential but I had no idea it would explode

like it did," she said. "Part of what I want to do with my videos is de-stigmatize

amputation and make it less scary," Stephens added. Stephens has a knack for building

and fixing things. In January, she was changing the brake pads on her Prius in her St.

Louis garage when the car slipped off its jack stand and landed on her left foot. Her

husband, Christopher, used a hydraulic jack to lift the car off her and then rushed her to

the hospital. She figured the foot was probably broken, but no worse.

"It didn't look that bad," Stephens recalled. Within weeks, though, her toes and other

parts of her foot turned gray, then black. Her surgeon believed he could save the foot,

but there was no guarantee it would be functional, Stephens said. "He wanted to do a

CBS News/Associated Press. Christina Stephens’ “Lego Leg” video inspired amputees. CBS News/AP. August 8, 2013.

Christina Stephens' "Lego Leg" Video Inspired Amputees (1130l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet