Australian model Lucy Markovic was upbeat and optimistic for the future as she documented what would be her final days on earth following a fatal brain operation.
Days out from the surgery she had spent four years researching and anticipating, the 27-year-old former Australia’s Next Top Model contestant shared a hopeful message with her more than 20,000 followers on TikTok.
‘After this I will be in the clear. I will be free,’ she said from her hospital room in Berlin, where her two sisters, mother and partner Carlos had come to support her.
‘I am so excited. I can’t wait to live life after this whole entire mess and I’m really thankful for all the people around me right now.’
Markovic, who leveraged her television fame into work with high fashion brands including Versace and Armani, was diagnosed with a brain artertiovenous malformation (AVM).
‘I have a four per cent chance per year that something could happen to me, like haemorrhaging in my brain. And that is not good odds,’ she said in a TikTok video.
After four years of treatment from doctors in Australia, Markovic finally landed on a neurosurgeon she felt ‘really confident with’ to perform surgery.
In the days and weeks leading up to the operation she hoped would allow her to live life as normal, she remained optimistic about the outcome.
Lucy Markovic, a former Australia’s Next Top Model contestant and international model, has died at the age of 27
Model Lucy Markovic is pictured in good spirits the day before undergoing brain surgery
Told by a friend the colour red would bring her good fortune, she painted her nails red, bought scarlet pyjamas, red slippers and joked about wearing red underwear.
By the time she was ready to fly to Berlin, the jumble of arteries and veins in her brain had grown to the size of a golf ball.
The surgery had initially been scheduled for March 26 but was delayed until April 2.
In a TikTok video posted on March 31, she told her followers: ‘None of this feels real or that serious but it is real and it is that serious’.
Before arriving to hospital for a planned two week stay, she spent time enjoying thr sights in Berlin with her partner and her family.
‘I literally have my whole entire family flying from Australia and Dubai to come and be there which, now that I’m thinking about it, they’re just coming here to watch me take a really big nap and wake up,’ she said.
‘But I do think in light of the situation that the more support and love you have around you the better the outcome.’
Three days before the surgery, she spent the day catching up on work, visiting a spa and playing Minecraft on her laptop to take her mind off the looming operation.
Markovic previously shared her artertiovenous malformation (AVM) was the ‘size of a golf ball’
Markovic signed documents acknowledging the risks of the surgery (pictured)
‘I am at my peak of chill. Honestly I love this because it’s kind of like an excuse for everyone to have a family reunion right now,’ she said.
Two days out, Markovic told her followers she had been required to sign legal documents acknowledging the risks of the operation.
‘It was just a phenomenal way to kick off my anxiety,’ she said.
‘I was going through a mental state of wanting to throw-up and also feeling fine all at the same time’.
After an emotional day of testing Markovic told her followers she remained ‘very confident’ in her surgeon the night before her operation.
‘Not gonna lie I’ve been crying on and off today I’m a little bit scared,’ she said.
‘I’m just very thankful that my family is here.’
The surgery appeared to have gone smoothly when, six days ago, she posted a video pretending to walk the runway in a hospital corridor.
Dressed in her lucky red pyjamas, she walked gingerly up and down the narrow corridor with a balancing hand on the hospital wall.
She shared video of the days and weeks leading up to the surgery with her more than 20,000 followers on TikTok
Following her stint on Australia’s Next Top Model in 2015, Lucy has walked the runway for major labels including Versace and Givenchy
It soon became clear, however, that something had gone wrong when a story posted to her Instagram account said Markovic was ‘battling for her life’.
‘If they can’t get the [swelling] down in the next few hours, another emergency surgery will need to be performed to remove the skull on the swollen side of the brain to get the pressure out,’ her partner Carlos wrote.
Her death was announced via an Instagram story early on Friday morning.
‘I regret to inform you that Lucy has passed,’ the post said.
‘She was at peace. Me, her mother and my mother were present with her.
‘We ask you to please give us space in these hard times.’
Friends, family and followers of Markovic have paid heartfelt tribute across social media to an intelligent, ambitious and kind-hearted soul.
News of her death was announced by her partner via her Instagram Story on Friday
Elite Model Management described her as a ‘shining light’ in a post confirming her death on Friday.
‘Modelling was one of Lucy’s dreams, and we are deeply honoured to have been part of that journey with her,’ the firm said.
‘She brought elegance, strength, and beauty to her work. But more than that, she brought herself – her warmth, her laughter, her light.’
Her sister Jelena, who is also a model, wrote her life would ‘never be the same’ after the loss of her younger sibling.
‘This feels unreal,’ she wrote.
‘My world has shattered into a million pieces.
‘The amount of sadness that has overcome me is unbearable’.
