AT 65 the simple joy of playing football with his grandson is not something Richard Thorpe takes for granted.

That’s a joy Richard is ready to share having so nearly lost a leg to a condition he didn’t see coming.

As thanks to those that did, Richard is the face of a new countywide campaign to tackle that condition head-on.

Vascular disease is as common as cancer and heart disease but not so nearly well known.

This disease of the arteries accounts for 40 per cent of deaths in the UK and its effects range from pain when walking, through to cold hands and feet, aortic aneurysms and stroke.

Richard is sharing his experience of vascular disease with Wye Valley NHS Trust to help Vascular Disease Awareness Week this week.

Richard liked to keep active, playing football with his fiveyear- old grandson Riley being a highlight. Then the cramping pains in his legs started.

First he put those pains down to old age, but they worsened as the year went on, to get so bad he could barely get up the stairs to bed.

Richard was virtually housebound by the time he went to his GP.

He reached the vascular department at Hereford County Hospital at risk of losing his left leg as it was too late to take medication.

Instead, Richard underwent major surgery – a bypass graft, where blood vessels are taken from another part of the body and used to bypass the blockage in the artery.

Recovery was tough but thoughts of playing football with Riley again saw Richard through. He says life is “back to normal” now.

But he knows what he would have done differently.

“If only I had been to see my GP earlier I would not have needed to undergo major surgery. I would say to anyone suffering with leg pain to visit their GP, before it’s too late,” he says.