Adrian Wood, from Werrington, Cambridgeshire, fell off his bike on a ride and the tree branch skewered him. It ripped through his jugular vein, voicebox and oesophagus, ending up just two millimetres from an artery.
Adrian picked himself up and walked along an alleyway with the 2 inch-wide branch stuck in his neck.
"I kept looking forward, taking very careful steps. I could feel the branch tapping on my shoulder. If I had moved it or pulled it slightly, I would have died," Adrian said.
But surgeons were successful in removing the branch in a five-hour operation. Adrian is now recuperating and hopes to return home soon.
"I'll get back on the bike as soon as I can. And I've kept the stick. I'm going to frame it!" Adrian said.