A blood clot survivor has invested millions into a product which could prevent others suffering from the condition that nearly killed him.

Seven years ago, Paul Westerman almost died when a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) he sustained in his lower limb after a tennis injury travelled through his heart to his lungs, causing a massive pulmonary embolism (PE).

And now the founder of RBR Active is developing a product which could drastically reduce the instances of DVT which costs the NHS more than £200 million a year.

The 51-year-old, who has been working closely with some of the world’s leading medical experts within respiratory and thrombosis medicine, said: “I nearly died from something that could have been prevented. If this was something that I knew more about, it could have been avoided.”

Following his experience, Paul became a trustee of Thrombosis UK and an appointed member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in its examination of thromboembolic diseases.

Earlier this year he launched his company RBR Active with the aim of raising awareness of the condition while funding research, and through this, has developed a ground-breaking product with the help of Professor Richard Beasley and Dr Rod Hughes.

He said: “The clinical research has led to something that truly looks like it will change the way we not only manage the threat of developing a DVT, but will potentially save lives.  The product has undergone stringent clinical trials and shown that, if used correctly, it will significantly increase blood flow to the lower limbs which in turn actively decreases the possibility of a person suffering from a DVT.”

According to Thrombosis UK, there are 544,000 DVT and PE-related deaths every year in Europe, and kills more people than AIDS, breast cancer, prostate cancer and motor vehicle crashes combined.

Paul said: “I believe I survived for a reason; the reason quite simply is to make sure other people survive too.”

The product aims to launch in 2019.