THE DISTRAUGHT boyfriend of a Darwen woman who was seriously injured in a motorway smash today told of the terror moment when she was thrown into the middle of the M61.

David Paget, 37, of Leigh, broke down in tears as he told of how his girlfriend Kathryn Gottweiss, 20, of Spring Meadows, Darwen, was tossed into the carriageway after a van and a car ploughed into his vehicle.

Kathryn, who is a clerical team leader at engineering firm Clive Hurley and Co, in Bolton Road, Blackburn, broke her neck in three places in the five vehicle smash on the M61 in the early hours of Sunday.

She is seriously ill in intensive care at Royal Preston Hospital and doctors were today doing tests to discover if she will be able to walk again.

She also suffered a broken right arm, six broken ribs and a punctured lung.

David, who met Kathryn two years ago, escaped with minor injuries.

He said: "I have just been sat at her bedside holding her hand.

"Last night I told her I loved her and she opened her eyes. If I could put myself in her place I would.

"We are soul mates. I am just praying she will pull through."

David and Kathryn had been driving back to Leigh from Blackburn after he had been working as a DJ at FJ Nicholls pub, in Northgate.

David said a car being driven erratically overtook him near Bolton West services.

Minutes later he said he noticed skid marks and was beginning to slow down when he suddenly hit a Rover car which had been abandoned in the carriageway. David said: "We came to a stop and Kathryn was crying in pain or shock.

"I couldn't open the driver's door to get out because it had been so badly mangled.

"I managed to climb through the window and I was going around to Kathryn's side of the car when I spotted a Transit van coming towards me.

"I waved my arms to stop it. It seemed to slow down but then it hit my car.

"Then another car came quite fast and I desperately tried to stop it but it gave my car such a clobber.

"It just sent it spinning around. It was sent flying down the motorway. I ran up to it but I couldn't see Kathryn in the passenger's seat. I was horrified. I kept screaming her name. A party of girls in a coach on a hen night found her in the middle lane of the carriageway."

Kathryn was air-lifted to Preston Hospital.

David has been told by doctors she will spend at least 12 months in hospital and may still be in intensive care up to Christmas.

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