In the photo posted last November on her Instagram page, Ms Hoffie, 23, leans stylishly holding a handbag against an iron pillar in the 14th St subway station.

Possibly taken by her close friend Wayan Preston, who she was visiting when she fell on the tracks, the image attracted friends’ comments dubbing her “subway girl”.

One friend posted “Always love a Nyc subway pic”.

Tragically, around 4am on January 11, Ms Hoffie was struck by a train at the 14th St station after tripping and falling onto the tracks.

The young artist’s mother has since posted on Facebook that both her daughter’s lower legs were amputated and she suffered multiple head wounds.

Patricia Hoffie, a nationally acclaimed Brisbane artist, academic and writer, is by her daughter’s side in a New York hospital.

She revealed her daughter also suffered a sheared vertebral artery and a C2 vertebral fracture.

Visaya, who calls herself Vissy, was visiting her friend Ms Preston, also a young artist, who was living in New York’s East Village near the 14th St station.

The two young women appeared to have enjoyed Christmas and New Year together in New York, posting photos of themselves in downtown Manhattan, in Central Park and in Queens.

Ms Preston, also known as Yani, appears to have moved there to study in 2018 but posted two days ago on Instagram that it was goodbye for now: “Till next time NY – will miss you.”

On both Yani and Vissy’s Facebook pages, friends have wished the young victim “a speedy recovery” and have posted messages of strength and support.

Patricia has posted on Facebook about her daughter’s remarkable survival and that she had been taken off breathing support and begun to eat.

“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,” Patricia wrote.

“Miraculously, she shows no evidence of brain damage.

“I am currently in ICU with her where she is undergoing a series of procedures and further operations.”

“She is sedated but is optimistic and has already muttered, ‘I’m going to have to deal with this’.

“The process of recovery will be very slow and we will probably be here a long time.

“Thank you to those of you who are already sustaining her by your prayers and good wishes.”

RELATED: Brisbane woman’s legs amputated after horror subway accident

In Brisbane, Visaya had worked in ticketing at the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art for the Brisbane International Film Festival

She participated in Australia’s largest arts festival, the Brisbane Festival last September.

New York Police said of Visaya’s accident “it was a miracle she survived”.

However, Visaya is not the first person to survive such an accident.

In December 2014, New York woman Teena Katz lost both her legs after being crushed in a subway accident after apparently fainting onto the tracks.

Then aged 31, Ms Katz was waiting at Grand Central station for a No. 7 train back to Queens when she felt light-headed.

The next thing she knew she was on the tracks with both legs severed, one just below her hip and the other below the knee, and covered in blood.

Ms Katz’s response was to tell NYPD officers in attendance, “I’m really sorry for delaying the train.”

With support from her husband Ben and friends and family, Ms Katz has since been fitted with prosthetic legs and made a spirited recovery.

For a time she wrote a blog called Teena vs. the 7 Train and now works as a sales manager.

The New York subway system, which has more than five million daily commuters, has around 50 fatalities a year, more than a third of them accidental.

candace.sutton@news.com.au