Mariana Bridi da Costa succumbed to the horrible bacteria-caused malady. "She told me she was praying to stay alive, that she still had a lot to do on this Earth, that she wanted to go on with her plans," Bridi da Costa's fiancé, Thiago Simoes, told CNN after the model had awakened from a coma 10 days ago.
"God is comforting our hearts because he wanted her to be with him now," the 20-year-old beauty's father, Agnaldo Costa Bridi, said Saturday.
Bridi da Costa's plight bore terrible similarities to last fall's shocking case of a Brooklyn mother, Tabitha Mullings, who lost her hands and legs to gangrene caused by a bacterial infection.
The model's ordeal made international news after an ordinary illness turned into a life-and-death battle with a bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, that raced through her veins.
Bridi da Costa first visited doctors in late December and, like Mullings, was initially diagnosed with kidney stones.
She was transferred to a hospital on Jan. 3 in what is known as septic shock, during which the infection caused irreparable tissue damage.
Doctors made the decision to amputate her hands and feet in what proved to be a futile effort to bring the rampant infection under control.
Part of her stomach and both kidneys were also removed, and she was left breathing through a respirator.
On Friday, her family launched an appeal for donors who shared her rare O-negative blood type.
Bridi da Costa was an up-and-coming model on her way to realizing a dream of worldwide success.
She twice made it into the national finals for the Miss World contest and placed sixth in the Miss Bikini International pageant in China last year, grabbing first place in the swimsuit category.
"The words of consolation that Mariana received in the past few days were very important for her," her aunt Oriendina Pereira Wasen said. "I believe that the serenity on her face came from this spiritual comfort."
sourceTina Turner photosSophia Loren photosBobby Jones photos
