A boy from the US state of Texas has had a branch skewered through his neck after crashing his dirt bike into a tree.

Twelve-year-old Garret Mullikin, who had never ridden a dirt bike in his life, had his body punctured through the neck, piercing his lung, and narrowly missing his heart.

"I heard a bunch of snapping twigs, hit the ground and then saw a big stick in my neck," Garret told NBC.

He was airlifted to a hospital in Houston after friends made the difficult, but lifesaving decision to keep the branch lodged in his neck.

"The doctor told us later if they had pulled it out, we would have lost Garret right then," said his mother Carol.

The doctors at Houston's Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital were stunned, despite seeing unusual injuries all the time.

"It probably wasn't the worst (thing we've seen), but it was way up there," said flight nurse Tim Payne.

The man who operated on him, Dr Richard Andrassy, had to open Garret up and push the branch out slowly - a quarter of an inch at a time.

"We need to go to Las Vegas and put some money on him," said Dr Andrassy.

"He was very lucky and very well behaved through a stressful situation."

Doctors say he will be fine, and Garret himself has learnt a very valuable lesson.

"Use your helmet, ask permission and don't aim the wheel of a bike towards a tree."