Crash teen: I'm lucky to be alive

A 15-year-old cyclist thought he was going to die after colliding with an oncoming car, badly injuring his leg.
Peter Cowan, from Bridge Pa, was training for a triathlon when he crashed on Railway Rd in Hastings last week, breaking his wrist and smashing bones in his knee.
"The doctors were telling me I was going to be okay but I was panicked and I thought I was going to die. I'm lucky to be here," he said.
After fears his leg may have to be amputated, family said it now seemed likely he would recover with, at worst, a limp.
He was moved to a general ward at Hawke's Bay Hospital yesterday and will undergo another operation today.
Speaking for the first time about the crash, Peter said he was terrified when he saw "a big chunk" of his knee missing.
But at the time he was more concerned for the motorist who he collided with.
"I was worried someone would think it was her fault and smash her," he said.
Peter was training for the cycling leg of next week's Iron Maori triathlon in Napier when he misjudged the speed of an oncoming motorist.
He was riding south on Railway Rd on Wednesday at 5.48pm, when he looked backwards to check behind him and accidentally veered across the centre line.
"Next thing there was a car in my face," he said.
"I quickly reacted and tried to turn but got hit. I went up, flipped and went down on my bum.
"I felt paralysed for two seconds, trying to get up, and I saw my knee and a big chunk of it was missing, and I was just terrified.
"I just yelled out as loud as I could, asking for help.
"Luckily my mum was close and there was all these doctors on their way home from work."
His mother, Geraldine Cowan-Maere, twin brother Chasser and younger sister were on their way home from a game of touch, where Peter had been playing and had stopped to buy fruit near the crash scene.
"I had cherries in my hand when I heard the bang," Ms Cowan-Maere said.
She said the family were concerned for his leg but it now looked positive.
"I'm just so glad he's not number six," she said, referring to the five cycling deaths in New Zealand in the same week.
Mrs Cowan-Maere said Peter had had a rough week.
Peter is a member of former Kiwi rugby league international Kevin Tamati's sports academy, which trains out of Choices Gym in Stortford Lodge.
Mr Tamati said he believed Peter would be all right.
But his bike, which Peter was riding at the time of the crash, was destroyed, and Mr Tamati was now looking for a new bike to use in Iron Maori.