A teenager feared for his life after falling through a glass door and tearing open his arm.

Peter Lendrum, 17, lay bleeding heavily while girlfriend Jenna Jones, 15, tried to stem the blood.

Jenna dialled 999 and was given first aid instructions over the phone while they waited for an ambulance.

Peter, from Worthing, was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he was treated for an inch-deep wound to his right arm and lacerations on all the fingers of his left arm. However, he and his family were furious when an emergency operation to repair the torn muscle was cancelled twice, despite medics telling him he needed urgent treatment.

Now trainee electrician Peter fears he may never fully recover from nerve damage to his arm and may not regain full movement.

Still in hospital, he said he feared for his life as he lay bleeding in Jenna's bedroom.

He was running into the room in Court Farm Road, Newhaven, on Friday night when he fell and smashed a glass panel of the door.

As he tumbled to the ground and battled to support himself, he fell through the door, receiving further injuries.

He said: "It did not feel real. There was so much blood, I thought I was dying. I almost fell unconscious and was sick three times.

"Now I just want to be well again and I am worried I will not be able to use my arm or hand when I go back to college."

Jenna, who attends Chailey School in South Chailey, said: "I stayed on the phone to the operator and they told me what to do. I was terrified and could not stop crying. There was blood all over the carpet. I put his arm in the air and tried to wrap a tea towel around the wound but it was so hard because I didn't want to hurt him. He was in so much pain."

Jenna's dad Roger Jones, who accompanied Peter to the hospital, said: "The operation was put off and off. The wound on his right arm would not stop bleeding even the day after the accident but because he did not need a life-saving operation it kept being put back. It was a disgrace."

A spokesman for the Royal Sussex said: "The patient's case was reviewed by the senior surgeon who decided other patients must be treated first. The nature of his injuries and his age have of course been considered. These decisions are not made on a whim."

Peter finally went in for his operation at noon yesterday and Jenna was at his bedside as he came round.

Doctors had repaired the severed tendon in his hand and put his hand in a cast.

They said there would not be any damage to his nerves and he should fully recover and get full use of his arm after physiotherapy.

Mr Jones said: "It is good news that they have actually done it.

"Jenna has calmed down. She is tired because she has had late nights. Hopefully she will get an early night ready to go to school in the morning."