When you have to go to hospital, just the sight of all the machines and then then probing and prodding you get during tests are enough to terrify even the bravest of adults.

Let alone children who may not fully understand what is going on.

One of the most traumatising experiences for children who are sick or receiving treatment is having to go through a MRI scan.

“They find it really huge, and when it starts there’s these noises and it feels like it’s going to collapse,” said Apollo Exconde, a senior MRI radiographer at Croydon University Hospital .

Apollo has worked as a radiographer since 2007, and has seen children miss their scans because they are too scared to be in the machine.

To try and make the experience easier for them, Apollo has come up with a plan - involving Lego.

(Image: Darren Pepe / My London )

"[Children] start hugging whoever is near them [when they have to have a MRI],” he said. “They hug me or their parents.”

“It really melts my heart because I am a stranger and I am being hugged by a patient because they’re really scared. It leaves my heart crushed.

“The MRI machine can be so noisy that even pensioners are scared, they think they are back in the war.”

(Image: Apollo Exconde )

“I feel really guilty when these things happen but if a patient is already anxious and saying they can’t breathe and that they’re going to faint you can’t force them to do anything because at the end of the day they know their body more than I do.”

The In Health Croydon MRI unit takes patient referrals from all over the country, helping to treat or diagnose anything from from back pains, trauma cases, sports injuries and cancer.

For Apollo the biggest concern is that children will not be diagnosed or receive essential treatment.

“That’s the most emotionally troubling thing for me because we know there’s something wrong with them but we can’t see what it is,” he said.

Not content to sit back and relax, Apollo designed a new Lego piece of a MRI machine, complete with patient and doctor figures.

(Image: Darren Pepe / My London)

The idea is that patients of all ages will be able to familiarise themselves with the machine at the point of referral for a scan, reducing the shock when they come to Croydon Hospital.

“If they try to Google it they get the wrong machine,” Apollo explained. “They all look different.”

“I realised what they want is something we can show them.”

“Most people ask: ‘Where will my head be?’ If they know where their head will be normally they can mentally prepare.”

Apollo has specifically chosen Lego as his preferred style of model because the toy company has touched people of all ages.

“Some patients are senior, for them it’s about passion because they have played it before when they were young and they are playing now with their children or grandchildren," he added.

“Everybody has a connection with lego. And it’s a way of turning fear into fun.”

(Image: Apollo Exconde )

Apollo has submitted his design to Lego Ideas, a platform which allows members of the public to submit original ideas for new Lego pieces.

His submission needs the support of 10,000 people online before it will be reviewed by Lego bosses.

Lego has set him a 1,000 milestone target, to be achieved within just over 300 days.

He's nearly there, with has over 500 supporters already.

“My goal is to have it everywhere,” Apollo said. “If a patient is an inpatient it should also be available in the ward.”

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To vote in support Apollo's initiative and find out more about the designs click here to visit his Lego Ideas page.