Miracle escape for crash biker Gavin Rice

His lower leg was crushed and broken in 23 places and his thigh bone was snapped in half, and he also suffered three breaks in his arm, two breaks in his knee, two broken fingers, three broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken shoulder and a broken collar bone.

Gavin, 23, of Norton, was in danger of bleeding to death after the collision with a car, which happened last October on a country road near Wetwang in East Yorkshire.

After being stabilised, he was flown by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to Hull Royal Infirmary, where doctors successfully battled to save his life and also to avoid having to amputate his leg, and then later managed to prevent blood clots reaching his heart or his brain.

Today he can walk again, albeit with a slight limp, after doctors used a fixing device to help repair the leg and now he is planning to thank the ambulance helicopter heroes for saving his life, by organising a massive fundraising drive over the August Bank Holiday weekend at his mother Sue’s pub, the Hyde Park.

The five-day extravaganza, running from Thursday, August 25, to Monday, August 29, will include band performances, pool and darts knockout tournaments, quiz night, race afternoon, bouncy castles and inflatable assault course in the pub car park, family party and disco, karaoke contest, raffle and tombola, and a balloon race.

Gavin said he hoped to raise at least £1,000 for the air ambulance. “I just want to thank them for saving my life,” he said.

“I would have bled to death at the scene if it hadn’t been for them.

“I also want to thank Caroline Spencer, who stopped after the accident, called the ambulance and stayed with me until it arrived.

“She tried to keep me awake although at one point, when I lost consciousness, she thought I had died.”

His wife, Kristina, told how she had been 33 weeks pregnant at the time of the accident and feared she might be widowed before the baby was born.

She also feared the trauma might bring her labour on prematurely. Fortunately it didn’t, and baby Eddie was born safely several days late at Christmas time.

Gavin said he had not yet been back on a motorbike, but planned to do so eventually although he would stick to racing and tracks in future.

He said: “I hope to be racing again by this time next year.”

• Anyone wanting to donate items for the raffle and tombola or obtain more information about fundraising events at the pub should phone Sue or Gavin on 01653 690274.