THE woman hit by a rampaging deer in Chelmsford High Street wants to thank the people who came to her aid.
Jenny Lang, 24, suffered a fractured skull, a torn ear, two black eyes and required stitches in her lip after being knocked to the pavement on Sunday, December 30.
Miss Lang, of St John's Road, Chelmsford, was on her way to Caffe Nero as the wild red deer dashed from New London Road into High Street.
"To be honest I didn't even know the deer hit me," she said. "I was just walking past High Chelmer shopping centre and was in the pedestrianised bit when I was hit twice from behind.
"I thought it was a car or something and lots of people started coming over to help.
"It hit my shoulder and it kind of pushed me down – apparently it tried to jump me but I didn't have time to put my hands out," said Miss Lang, who works in Chelmsford on a Marks & Spencer graduate scheme.
By chance, an off-duty nurse, a paramedic and a doctor were all nearby and rushed to help.
The medics, none of whom knew one another, made sure Miss Lang was in a stable condition and reassured her as she lay on the ground waiting for an ambulance.
"I was definitely in shock and I was quite upset and cold," said Miss Lang.
"I really wanted to thank the people who were off duty.
"The nurse held my hand and was trying to keep me calm, while the doctor and the paramedic stabilised me.
"Because I was on my own they really took care of me.
"It would have been a lot worse without them."
Miss Lang has now been signed off work for three weeks after being kept in Broomfield Hospital for 48 hours.
"I'm never ill or injured and talking about it at the hospital it felt a little bit surreal," she said.
Police said the deer was briefly spotted on CCTV before calls started coming in from motorists claiming a deer was on the northbound carriageway of the A12.
A police spokesman said a search was made and roadblocks set up, but there were not any further sightings of the animal.
It was still unknown as the Chronicle went to press where the animal had come from, or where it ended up.
Miss Lang said: "If I had just decided to go to Costa I would have been fine."
