A brave young boy decided to have his right leg amputated in November to avoid a lifetime in a wheelchair and so that he could run and jump like normal kids. On Friday, glowing with pride, Nick Nelson showed off his new prosthetic leg and the mobility and freedom it has given him.
With the cameras rolling, 9-year-old Nick made a grand entrance, scampering across the TODAY Show’s New York studio, hopping up on the set and clambering onto the couch where his parents, Gary and Greta Nelson, and 10-year-old sister, Naomi, waited for him.
Nick told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer he has just one complaint about his new limb: “It makes a weird, clicky sound when I walk,” he said. “Now I can’t sneak into my sister’s room.”
Naomi showed no sympathy. “I can still outrun him,” she boasted.
Nick and his family had been on TODAY on the day before Thanksgiving. A month earlier, he had undergone the amputation surgery in the Minneapolis area, where he lives, and he was impatient because he hadn’t yet gotten his new leg.
On Christmas Day, he opened a package under the tree and with a smile of delight pulled out his new limb.
Nick was born with a rare birth defect called popliteal pterygium syndrome. Caused by one defective gene, the syndrome expressed itself as winglike webs of tissue growing behind his knees that prevented him from being able to extend his legs.
He has undergone numerous surgeries in his young life that have given him more mobility in his left leg, but his right leg was getting progressively worse. The web could not be entirely cut away because it is packed with nerves. Finally, doctors said that if Nick didn’t undergo the amputation, he would end up being confined to a wheelchair for life.
In November, Nick said that he just wanted to be able to jump and run and climb the jungle gym. Now, he can do all of those things.
He is also playing sled hockey and dreaming of playing in the Olympics. He even visited the U.S. Olympic Team’s training facilities in Colorado, where he got a standing ovation as he walked into the team’s offices.
He has always had an upbeat personality, his mother said, but since he got his new leg, “He’s just a happier kid — a bigger smile, a better attitude.”
Seeing him put the leg on at a rehab center and learn to use it, she said, “was like watching him walk for the first time all over again.”
On Friday, Nick got another treat. He’s a big fan of “Dwight,” the character played by Rainn Wilson on the NBC show “The Office,” and has Wilson’s picture taped to his prosthetic leg.
Wilson’s on location filming a movie and couldn’t come to New York, so he did the next best thing, recording a greeting for Nick.
“Hi, Nick. I was so moved by that story that I have decided to tattoo your face on my butt,” Wilson said as the Nelsons laughed. “If you come by the set, I’ll give you a tour, and while I won’t show you the tattoo, we’ll discuss it.”
Nick will have to get a new prosthetic every six to 12 months while he’s growing, but should have no complications.
So what’s he doing with his new leg, Lauer asked.
“Running around,” he said. He’s also looking forward to taking up a spring and summer sport: golf.