A WINDOW cleaner who was impaled on a metal spike was last night continuing his recovery in hospital.

Norman Johnston described himself as "the luckiest man alive", after he fell from a ladder on to a 4ft pole.

It pierced his left side and emerged through his chin, without damaging any of his major organs. He was admitted to the intensive care unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

Mr Johnston said: "I feel like a lottery winner because it was a million-to-one chance that the spike missed all my major organs.

"I thought I was going to die because there was so much blood. I knew I had to keep myself awake because if I went unconscious I would be a 'goner'.

"One moment I was on the ladders and the next thing the ground was rushing at me. At first, I didn't realise I was impaled on the spike and I tried to get up."

Mr Johnston, of Grindon, Sunderland, and fiancee Joan Lay plan to marry in September.