Girl crushed in cycling accident dies after losing both legs

A YOUNG student has lost her fight for life 18 months after her legs were badly crushed in a horrific road accident.

Milena Gott, 22, who was originally from Poland, had tried to battle her way back to recovery after she was severely injured in July 2009 when she was knocked off her bicycle by a tanker lorry on a busy roundabout.

She endured a series of skin grafts and other operations to treat the injuries to her legs and her hips she sustained in the accident in Aberdeen.

But it emerged yesterday that she had died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary two days after both her badly infected legs had to be amputated.

Her sister Alice, 29, led the tributes to the "best sister" anyone could wish for. She said: "She was fighting for 18 months in hospital, but her injuries were just too much. The doctors had to amputate her legs as the infection became so bad.

"But just two days after the operation she didn't wake up. It was too much for her body to handle. The operation was too tough for her heart. She couldn't fight it any more."

Ms Gott, who was planning to pursue a career as a psychologist, had moved to Aberdeen to study at Aberdeen University.

She was knocked off her bike at the Garthdee roundabout on the city's Holburn Street and was rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in a critical condition.

The articulated lorry had driven over her pelvis and severely damaged both her legs.

Several months after the accident doctors told Ms Gott and her family that she would never be able to walk again.

She was later transferred for specialist treatment to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where she died on Saturday.

At Aberdeen Royal Infirmary last October, before her transfer to Glasgow, Ms Gott said: "My whole body still hurts, but I am just taking each day at a time."

She added: "I have given up hope of getting out any time soon. I just hope to start studying the university course in hospital. I think if I can start my studies again and do work in hospital it will help me."

Her sister, who lives in Manchester, said yesterday that the family were devastated.

She said: "We are all so upset. She was a lovely girl, who was so clever and happy before the accident. She was the best sister I could have ever asked for. My mum is heartbroken.

"She was an amazing person who didn't deserve any of this. She was always there if I needed her. It's absolutely devastating. She was loved so much and she will never be forgotten."In April last year, Richard Fox, the driver of the lorry that knocked Ms Gott down, was fined 340 and had five penalty points added to his licence after admitting careless driving when he appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Fox, of Woodland Way, Denny, Stirlingshire, admitted driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other road users at the junction of South Anderson Drive and Holburn Street. The court was told he did not realise he had knocked Ms Gott down and kept on driving.

At the hearing, fiscal depute Raymond O'Brien told the court: "The front near-side of the lorry collided with the cyclist causing her to land on the road.

"It was clear he had not seen her. The vehicle passed over the top of the cyclist's pelvis while continuing to drive along the road. He then realised something had happened and stopped."

Ms Gott's funeral will be held at Maryhill Crematorium in Glasgow, on Thursday.