Biker Impaled By Tree Drives 20 Miles to Hospital

A mountain biker in New Mexico got impaled in the neck with a tree branch and had to drive for 20 miles to get to the nearest hospital.

The unidentified biker had a 2 centimetre wide branch impaled in his neck but was fortunate enough to avoid any serious injury.

In spite of being in serious pain, the biker managed to get into a car. During the CT scan, the doctors found the branch lodged 1.6 cms deep into the victim's neck.

According to the doctors, the biker was very lucky not to damage any major blood vessels, airways or nerves around the neck region.

Dr. Lev Deriy, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico treated the victim and said, "The neck contains a lot of very important, vital structures" and that he was "lucky not to damage anything."

The doctors later removed the branch. The resulting wound was later explored, irrigated and closed.

Dr Deriy also had a word of praise to the victim who acted in the right manner before seeking help.

"If you have something like that happen, it's a good idea not to touch [the] foreign body," Deriy said.