TEENAGER Tom Buck who was unconscious for two weeks after receiving serious head injuries in a road accident today thanked those who saved his life.

"I think I'm lucky. I could have been dead," he said at his home in Old Dike Lands, Haxby. "I'm pleased that I'm alive and home getting better and hopefully I'll be back to school soon."

Tom, 13, was in collision with a car in Eastfield Avenue, Haxby, as he walked to his home from school on December 18 last year. Horrified fellow pupils saw the accident, which left Tom pinned underneath the car.

Quick-thinking passers-by lifted the car off him before the emergency services arrived.

He was taken to York District Hospital and later transferred to Leeds General Infirmary (LGI).

Tom's mother, Sheila, said: "He was in intensive care at LGI for two weeks and they sedated him because he had such nasty injuries. That was the worst time and the doctors can't really tell you anything, but I think it's like that with head injuries.

"We've been to hell and back, really, but we have a wonderful family so everyone pulled together."

And while Sheila and Tom's father, David, kept a bedside vigil and his younger brothers Callum, 12, and Matthew, six, prayed for a full recovery, prayers were also being said by Tom's fellow pupils at Joseph Rowntree School.

The school was inundated with calls from pupils, parents and members of the public inquiring about Tom's condition and passing on their sympathies.

Sheila said: "Tom then went on to the children's ward for a week and was transferred to St James's Hospital, where he had some skin grafts done and he came home a week-and-a-half ago."

He is expected to make a full recovery.

Sheila said: "He's done really, really well. He's still got quite a lot of injuries left to heal up and he's still going backwards and forwards to hospital for more skin grafts, but he's fine. "Obviously he's a bit restless but he's quite happy in himself, if a little bit bored."

"He's had a few visitors and his friends from his form collected money for him and bought him a mobile phone, which was fantastic.

"He'd been talking about getting one before Christmas.

"We haven't really had a Christmas, but now it's just lovely to get him home."

Tom, who had no recollection of the accident or the days leading up to it, said he wanted to thank the hospital staff who looked after him.

"They looked after me brilliantly and everybody at school has been asking how I am and I've got loads of cards. I'd just like them all to know I'm all right," he said.

He said his dad and his brothers had all been very supportive, but there was one person he would like to thank the most.

"My mum," he said. "She has been great. She's changed my dressings and given me moral support."

Updated: 09:59 Saturday, February 03, 2001