A young man has undergone lifesaving brain surgery after he was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver.

Lee Rose, 23, of Marlyon Road in Hainault, was knocked down in Leytonstone High Road in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The trainee railway worker's heart stopped three times after he was hurled into the air by a dark, seven seat people carrier after getting off a night bus close to O’Neill’s pub at the Green Man roundabout at around 12.30am.

A quick-thinking medical student who was driving past the scene saved his life with emergency treatment, according to friends, before he was taken to the Royal London Hospital.

He underwent seven hours of major brain surgery due to a blood clot, during which a quarter of his skull was cut from his head.

He also has a shattered collar bone, broken ribs and a broken hand.

Lee’s mum, Carol, 43, said: “He only woke up for the first time properly yesterday and his speech is very slurred.

“We still do not know if there will be any lasting effects. He cannot use his left hand at the moment. The doctors say we are not out of the woods yet.”

“I thought he was going to die. I have not slept. I have been in tears. It’s been a nightmare.

“The doctors have been amazing. He had to be brought back from the dead twice in hospital and then they performed seven hours of brain surgery.

“God must be looking down on him. I do not know how else he can have survived this.”

Carol says she is desperate to track down the medical student who helped save her son’s life as he lay in the road.

And she has made an emotional appeal for anyone with any information on the driver of the car that mowed Lee down to contact police.

She said: “To just drive off and leave him in the road – I think these people are scum.

“Do they have no conscience? Surely they must be sitting at home with this playing on their minds.

“I would ask them or anyone who knows who they are to get in contact with the police.”

Lee was on his way to a friend’s house with six others when the incident happened.

His pal Olly Mills, 23, of Clayhall Avenue, said: “I saw the car accelerating towards us and jumped out of the way.

“As I turned around I heard this almighty bang and  saw Lee flying through the air.

“I thought he was dead, but this lady pulled up and helped him. I am convinced she saved his life.”

Another of Lee’s friends, Matthew Daly, 23, who lives in Tilbury, said: “Olly shouted to watch out and I got out of the way, but Lee wasn’t so lucky.

“The woman who stopped to help was called Laura, I think.

“I would love to see her again and buy her a drink because there’s no doubt she helped save Lee’s life.”

A spokeswoman for Waltham Forest Police said:  “Police were called at approximately  12.25am on Saturday, 20 April, to reports of a car in collision with a pedestrian in Leytonstone High Road, near the junction with Bush Road.

“The vehicle involved, described as a dark people carrier, failed to stop at the scene.”

She added that no arrests had been made and that a police investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Lee's uncle Chas said police have told him that the accident happened at a CCTV blind spot, but local businesses are being contacted to see if any of their cameras picked up footage of the car.