The fiance of a top Brazilian model -- whose hands and feet were amputated in a bid to save her from a deadly and little-known illness -- said he believes she will wake up from a coma, noting, "where there is a heartbeat, there is hope."
Mariana Bridi da Costa, 20, was in "very critical condition" on Friday, doctors said, as she fought a pernicious disease that has ravaged her body and forced doctors to perform the amputations and extract part of her stomach as well as both kidneys.
She was breathing through a respirator, officials at Dorio Silva Hospital in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo said Friday.
"Where there is a heartbeat, there is hope," her fiance, Thiago Simoes, told CNN in a telephone interview.
Da Costa suffered from necrosis, or the fast deadening of tissue, caused by septicemia.
Septicemia, triggered by a bacterial infection, causes insufficient blood flow that can lead to organ failure.
Bridi first sought medical advice after feeling ill in late December. Hospital officials said she was transferred to Dorio Silva on January 3 in "septic shock," a serious medical condition caused by an inflammation.
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