Despite the months of recovery that lie ahead of him after severely breaking his leg in a motorbike accident, Tauranga man Nick Kerr is just thankful to be alive.

The EC Credit Control area manager's left foot was almost amputated when it took the full brunt of a crash on Pyes Pa Road on Thursday, November 19.

Nick's foot is severely broken and will require months of rehabilitation. Photo: Supplied.

As he lay on the ground looking at his mangled foot, thoughts turned to his family, and the possibility that he may never see them again.

Father to a son and a daughter, the 34-year-old recently bought the bike that was involved in the crash and is in the middle of paying for a new house.

Speaking to SunLive from his bed in Tauranga Hospital, Nick says unfortunately, the break has worsened.

'I needed to go to the toilet, so I made my way off the bed, but couldn't make it and fell on the floor,” he says.

As a result of the fall, Nick's leg sustained more damage and he had to have another operation to reset the bone. It also means he has to spend another two weeks in hospital.

Despite the set back, he says the nurses and staff in ward 4B have been amazing during his stay so far.

Reliving the moments leading up to the crash, Nick says time slowed down. 'I saw a path to the left which would get me killed, another one straight ahead which would get me and the driver killed, and then one to the right. It was just laid out in front of me.

'I don't know how the hell I turned, but I turned and snipped the corner of the car with my bike and leg.”

Not only does Nick face months of recovery, the kicker to the story is that he had only just got his patch for the Warriors of Faith Christian Motorcycle Club and, technically, his bike wasn't insured.

'On the day of the crash I rang the insurance company to change the bike over,” he explains, 'and normally I can do it on the spot because I have bought and sold so many bikes.”

On this occasion, however, Nick spoke to someone from the sales department who told him he needed to re-enter all of his information again, including his credit card details.

'I was on my way to work to get my credit card when I had the accident.”

Nick says he is looking at taking the matter to the ombudsman, but says it will not affect him paying for the damage to the Toyota Starlet as a police investigation laid the blame on his shoulders.

'I saw her indicate seconds before she turned,” he says. 'Witnesses say I wasn't speeding and I was doing a safe overtaking manoeuvre, it (the Toyota Starlet) just pulled out and I didn't see her pull out. 'The main message is that just because the road is clear, it doesn't mean it will stay that way.”

Nick says everyone on the road just needs to be so, so careful.

'One split second and my work, I'm self-employed, could disappear, my house could disappear and I could of lost my family and my life.

'No meeting is worth losing your life over. Melted ice cream is not as bad as a smashed leg.

'It just really makes you realise what is important.

'When I was lying on the ground thinking I was dying, I wasn't thinking about making $100,000 next year or buying an Armani suit – I was thinking about how I wanted to hold my kids and how I shouldn't have spoken to my mother the way I did before she left for a recent trip.”