Nic Olsen, 80, has had his legs amputated (Image: SWNS)
A man had both legs amputated after it took 29 medical appointments and four years to diagnose a common health condition. Nic Olsen, 80, said his legs might have been saved had he been diagnosed earlier.
The semi-retired financial advisor suffered with spinal problems for years. He began to experience swollen feet and lost hair on his lower legs in 2020. The pensioner from Tugby, Leicestershire, was referred by a GP to an orthopaedic specialist because it was believed the discomfort was connected to his back pain.
He would go on to have 29 appointments with GPs, consultants and specialists over four years, undergoing endless MRI scans, X-rays and blood tests as the pain grew more intense.
Each time he was sent away, with medics telling him to walk more, prescribing cholesterol tablets, giving Nic spinal injections and advising him to use insoles in his shoes.
Nic even collapsed and saw his big toes “burst open” – before someone finally spotted a blockage in his arteries in his lower legs, and diagnosed him with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
He said: “I slipped through the net. But early diagnosis saves lives and it’s totally preventable if it’s diagnosed early enough.”
PAD is characterised by arteries narrowing due to the build-up of fatty deposits in the walls that can lead to blockages. It affects one in five people over the age of 60.
By the time it was spotted in Nic’s case, the condition was so advanced that treatments were deemed unlikely to be successful.
Despite undergoing an angioplasty and bypass surgery – twice – in a bid to reopen the arteries in his legs, it was too late for Nic, who ended up needing a double amputation of both lower limbs.
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His condition could have been diagnosed and treated quickly if he had been given a Doppler test at his first GP appointment to test the circulation in his legs – or someone had even just checked the pulse in his foot.
Nic’s wife Fiona Olsen, 68, said he wasn’t given a Doppler test for years, adding it would have quickly identified a circulation problem in his legs.
The retired travel and tourism teacher said it wasn’t until October, 2024, after another ultrasound, that a podiatrist asked about whether Nic had had a Doppler done.
Fiona, who is now Nic’s full-time carer, said: “She did the Doppler finally and there were no sounds of circulation. We knew then that it was bad.”
He was sent for an electrocardiogram (ECG) – a test to record the electrical activity of the heart – and was also referred to a vascular hospital where a consultant revealed he had chronic PAD.
But Fiona said he was just told to walk 10,000 steps a day and prescribed cholesterol tablets. In January, 2025, Nick collapsed from the pain and was unable to walk.
Nic had to learn to walk again (Image: SWNS)
After three further trips to the hospital, another new consultant looked at his ultrasound scan and raised the alarm.
Nic was sent for an angioplasty – a procedure to unblock arteries – but the procedure didn’t work. He then underwent an arterial bypass – a large and risky 13-hour surgery, but that didn’t work either.
Fiona said: “By this point the pain was phenomenal for Nic, so the next option was amputation.”
He had his right leg – the worse of the two – amputated below the knee in April 2025. Within two weeks of returning home from his amputation, his second foot became ulcerated and he needed a second amputation, in July 2025.
Nic, who also has two sons from a previous relationship, went through months of gruelling rehab using prosthetic legs to walk again. Just in time, he was strong enough to walk daughter Emma Olsen, 30, down the aisle on her wedding day in June.
Fiona, who is campaigning to raise awareness of PAD, said: “I know he has some dark thoughts, but my husband is so strong. Nic is doing so well because of his massive strength and stamina.”
Nic said: “I wouldn’t be anywhere without Fiona there behind me.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
