The LEGO Man's Journey: From Volunteer to Nurse

For over 10 years, Maor Cohen (44) volunteered with children battling cancer in oncology departments across hospitals in Israel, gaining fame as the 'LEGO Man' thanks to the LEGO sets he distributed to the children. 

After a notably long military service and earning a master's degree in political science, Cohen recently decided to pursue his longtime dream of becoming a nurse. “I come here almost every day until evening, and something felt incomplete because I saw the nurses, the staff, who stay after I leave and do the tough work. It burned inside me. 

“I decided this was all I wanted, and that it was my dream to be a nurse,” he recalls. “People around me thought I was joking with them. It’s not a walk in the park, there are demands, and it was tough for me. Many times I 'threatened' to leave.”

Today, he works at the Ichilov Hospital — the very place he started his journey as a volunteer, and where all four of his children were born. “Walking in here for the first time in a nurse's uniform was a breathtaking and awe-inspiring moment,” he shares. 

And what happens when he finishes his shift and takes off his nurse's uniform? You guessed it, he puts on another uniform, the LEGO Man attire which he can't part from, and continues to bring joy to children and parents in his second role.