Steve Wollaston lost toes on both of his feet because of type two, or late-onset, diabetes with which he was diagnosed five years ago.
“As a victim of an amputation, caused by diabetes, I would really urge everyone who has diabetes or a history of diabetes within their family to go up and get their feet looked at because it’s very, very important,” Mr Wollaston said.
“What happens with a diabetic, because you get poor circulation at the lower points of your body - your feet, being your most lowest point - if you have poor circulation, you don’t have any feeling in your feet at all.
“If you get any little cut or a blister or anything like that, because you don’t have feeling in your feet, they ulcerate and that’s where problems happen.
“And that’s what happened to me, which caused the amputation.
“I was silly. I knew I had a cut on my foot and it was pretty ordinary-looking, but it didn’t hurt.
“I was very lucky - I only lost my toes and not my full leg, because that’s the next stage in the amputation process.
“If you don’t stop it, osteomyelitis (an infection) gets into your bone ... and it spreads like wildfire and bang, you suffer a leg or toe amputation.”
He said poor circulation was often caused by a narrowing of the main arteries that go down to the feet.
“And that’s the cause of mine, which I didn’t know until I ended up in Townsville where I had proper scans and an angioplasty, which cleaned out my artery which got the blood supply going back to my feet,” he said.
“But it was too late in my case.”
Mount Isa Hospital this week launched the High-Risk Diabetic Foot Service project which is for diabetes patients who have wounds such as ulcers on their feet.
Coordinator Courtney Thomas said the checks would be done once a week.
“We have an ulcer disciplinary team - nurses, doctors, diabetes educators - all working together, just trying to get the ulcers healed and patients back at home,” Ms Thomas said.
“Diabetic foot problems are the most hospitalised diabetic-related complication and the major cause of lower limb amputations in Queensland and Australia.
“The good news is that international research has found that a targeted, coordinated service can reduce amputations and hospitalisations by at least half.”