custom script/cron job needed for radius server

I would like a cron job to run, and if the service isn't started...to actually start the service...and then to email me that the service was NOT STARTED..and if the service starts...that the service WAS STARTED Because this freeradius will stop in the middle of the night...I might not know for 10 hours its down...because I am sleeping. So need some way of automatically starting the service again and alerting me of the issue. I would like the server to reboot after 5 failed attempts to start the service, as a reboot generally fixes most issues. I would like to get an email when the service cannot start back up automatically and needs a reboot but no other time.