A BIKER who was left fighting for life after crashing into a deer has made it through 'months of hell' and is thanking the emergency services that saved him.

David Lucas, a bus driver for First Bus, was rushed to hospital after he crashed into a deer that had jumped into his path on the morning of July 9.

Mr Lucas was riding home to Dorchester on his ST 1100 Honda motorbike at around 12.30am after a finishing his shift as a bus driver for First in Weymouth.

As he passed Swallows Rest on the Ridgeway, Mr Lucas smashed into a deer.

The animal died on impact and Mr Lucas was thrown from the bike, landing in a ditch.

He said: “It was a nice and dry evening, I was doing about 45-50mph and I saw this deer running in the fields on the right hand side. It jumped and I thought it had gone down into the ditch.

“Next second I know, the deer was right in front of me, right in the middle of my path, and it was not moving.

"I had a split second to think, and before I knew it, I had crashed into it.

“That’s the last thing I remember.”

Mr Lucas said that moment kick-started 'months of hell.'

It is not known how long he was lying at the side of the road, but he was rushed to Dorset County Hospital once paramedics arrived. He was then immediately transferred to Southampton General Hospital with a bleed on his brain, and was put into an induced coma for three weeks.

Mr Lucas said it was “50/50” whether he would survive, but thankfully he pulled through and shortly after waking up, he was transferred back to DCH, where he stayed for eight weeks.

He suffered a broken collar bone, six cracked ribs, partial sight loss his left eye plus damage to his left arm.

Now, Mr Lucas has spoken of his ordeal as he tries to piece together what happened that night, and thanked the emergency services for saving his life.

He said: “It’s basically been hell since July.

“Coming home from hospital, I’ve really struggled, even with basic things like the kettle and the toaster.

“I’ve been struggling to sleep as well, I sometimes have flashbacks during the night.

“I just feel like rubbish, when I get up in the morning I just don’t want to do anything. It’s a real struggle and I am just taking each day as it comes.

“I really want to say a big thank you to all of the people from the police, the ambulance who helped me.

“They saved my life and I will be forever grateful, I wish I could thank them personally but I don’t know their names.”

Mr Lucas has also urged all road users, and in particular motorcyclists, to be wary of deer on the road. It is currently mating season for the animals, meaning that they will appear at the roadside more frequently.

“I would just say to motorcyclists that they have to be aware of deer, because they just come out so suddenly you don’t really know until it’s too late.

“The lights of the motorbikes startle the deer, and they just stand still and you can’t get out of the way quick enough,” he said.

Mr Lucas has also called on anyone who helped him that night, or might have been driving on the relief road at the time to contact him to help fill in the blanks of his memory. To do this, use the contact details below.