David Poole of Gloucester recommends everyone should get a complete cholesterol count. And he should know, because his own levels had once been so dangerously high that it might have led to his demise.

Poole has always been an active person, but that alone didn’t save him from the dangers of high cholesterol. In fact, he had run a 5K and won his age group the same week he landed in the hospital with five almost completely blocked arteries. Poole, now 58, said his high cholesterol was probably due to genetics, with most men in his family dying by their 50s.

In May 2009, Poole was surprised to learn he needed a coronary artery bypass surgery. Doctors cut open his chest to remove two mammary arteries for grafts as well as removing arteries from his left leg.

An electrocardiogram didn’t reveal his problem, but a stress test did.

At the age of 40, Poole said his cholesterol levels were good; slightly elevated levels were recorded during a doctor’s visit at age ...