Sophie Delezio, the brave little girl who suffered burns to 85 per cent of her body when a car slammed into a daycare centre, has grown into a confident young woman about to leave home and travel overseas. She shares her quest for freedom with Michael Sheather.
Sophie Delezio remembers the precise moment she fell in love with London. “Mum and I were walking through the centre of the city,” recalls Sophie, a pretty, spirited young woman about to turn 18. “I was 15 at the time and Mum and I went to London. It was the two of us, so it was a girls’ trip.
“We’d been to visit Kensington Gardens and were walking back. It came over all cloudy and drizzly, and then a freezing wind sprang up. I could feel the chilly air on my hands and face, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘I love this’. I love that feeling of having to rug up against the cold in winter woolies. It was like a winter wonderland – all the Christmas decorations, all the food, all the people. Everything about it held on to me and I instantly fell in love with it. Right then, decided that one day I would make London my home.”
Sophie, the little girl who won Australia’s heart with her bravery and endurance after a horrific car accident at a Sydney daycare centre in 2003, is about to turn that dream into a reality.
After completing high school last year, Sophie has applied for entrance to study sociology and international relations at no less than five top-ranking English universities, four of them in London. Her choices mean that she must now forge a new life for herself in a new city and country – half a world away from the comfortable and supportive upbringing that she experienced at her family’s home on Sydney’s North Shore.
“Yes, a part of me is a little nervous about moving away,” says Sophie, the daughter of Ron Delezio, a former electrician, and his wife Carolyn Martin, a teacher. “Yet there is another part of me that is very excited. In fact, I can’t wait to go. I know there are going to be tears when I get on the plane, but I know that will only be for a few moments.
This story is from the April 2019 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
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This story is from the April 2019 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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