BATON ROUGE — At 69 years old, Bobby Hager ignored the aching in his legs until a family boating trip turned his discomfort into unbearable agony.

"It was like a toothache that just constantly shot pain right up my leg," Bobby recalled. "I knew right there that something was wrong."

Luckily, his son-in-law, Dr. Robert Ford, an emergency physician at Orlando Health, noticed the red flags. Bobby’s left leg was pale, cold, and lacked a pulse—clear signs of restricted blood flow. Rushed to the hospital, surgeons removed a massive blood clot blocking a main artery just in time.

"I could have lost a toe, I could have lost a foot, I could have lost my leg, and then I could have lost my life," Bobby said.

Vascular disease affects nearly 40 million Americans. Seek immediate medical attention if you experience: Pain in legs or feet (while walking or at rest), numbness, weakness, or a heavy feeling in legs, pale skin, discoloration, or legs cool to the touch, weak or absent pulse in the feet, hair loss on lower legs or slow-healing wounds

Bobby now urges anyone recognizing these signs not to tough it out: "Don't be like me and wait. Go get it checked out."