thing I remember is being loaded into the helicopter."

He was flown to Selly Oak where consultant vascular surgeon Rajiv Vohra and his team patiently remove the rod, which had narrowly missed many of his major organs - including the heart, lungs, and liver.

Mr Sweeney added: "When I came round in hospital, the rod was still sticking out, but I was chatting to my wife before I was put to sleep for surgery.

"The following day doctors showed me the X-ray they'd taken of the rod, and Mr Vohra calls me his 'miracle man' because the bar managed to take the only 'safe' route through my body."

Four days after the accident, he was allowed to go home to his family.

Mr Vohra explained this case was "extremely rare" and Mr Sweeneywas lucky to be alive.

"I probably won't see anything like it again. Given the damage this could have caused, I suppose he is a miracle man," he said.

"There were ten or 11 major structures in the rod's path, all of which it had appeared to miss.

"He could easily have damaged one, two, three or even all of them - and damage to any one of them could potentially have been life-threatening. He is extremely lucky that it missed them all."

Nearly five months after the accident, Mr Sweeney still has regular check-ups and some nerve damage to his left leg, but he hopes to return to work in the New Year.

However he has not yet decided "whether or not I'll be back on a building site. "I do want