How a pink shirt saved the life of an Aussie artist run over by a NYC train
A Queensland woman who was run over by a train in New York survived due to her pink t-shirt.
Visaya Hoffie, 23, an artist from Brisbane, fell onto the tracks in a New York subway on January 11 at about 4am.
Her mum, Pat Hoffie, wrote on Facebook on January 16 she was run over by the locomotive and seven of its carriages.
“Her lower legs were amputated; she has multiple head wounds, a C2 vertebral fracture, a sheared vertebral artery, a skull depression and associated cuts and wounds,” the mum wrote.
She added her daughter, who was off breathing support, told her, “I’m going to have to deal with this”.
A New York Port Authority spokesman confirmed to News Corp the 23-year-old had been hit by a train, adding she suffered head and lower body injuries.
On Tuesday, police told Ms Hoffie “it’s a miracle she survived”.
“She has a pseudoaneurysm in the femoral artery leading into her brain and this is being monitored by the neck brace she will have to wear for many months to come, and aspirin to avoid blood clotting,” Ms Hoffie wrote.
“The stitches in her face have come out but the row of staples in her skull will be in for some time.”
Ms Hoffie also shared a photo of Visaya taken just hours before the accident. The mum noted her daughter was wearing a pink t-shirt.
“The bright pink colour of her top is what alerted the engine driver of the second train to the fact that someone was lying across the track,” Ms Hoffie wrote.
“When the first train had rolled across her unconscious body twenty minutes earlier, her black puffy jacket and black jeans had made her invisible to the driver.”
According to The Courier-Mail, Ms Hoffie’s works were featured in the 2016 Queensland College of Art Fine Art graduates collection.
DFAT has been contacted for comment.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
