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Old 06-21-2004, 06:32 AM   #1 (permalink)
cchris
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Sophie leaves hospital for a night with the stars
By Katherine Danks
June 21, 2004

When severely-burned toddler Sophie Delezio was in hospital last year, her parents were asked if they wanted to turn off her life support. Twice.

Unwilling to say goodbye to their little girl, they said no, hoping she would somehow overcome her horrific injuries and open her eyes again.

Today, six months after a car crashed into her Sydney childcare centre, trapping her and playmate Molly Wood, three-year-old Sophie went home.

Her parents Ron Delezio and Carolyn Martin, and their four-year-old son Mitchell, were beaming as they kissed Sophie's cheek to the cheers of staff at The Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney.

As doctors and nurses gathered to wave Sophie off, her family was finally allowed to take their "great fighter" home.

Sophie and Molly Wood, aged two at the time, suffered terrible injuries on December 15, 2003, when they were trapped underneath the car that crashed into Roundhouse Childcare Centre at Fairlight, on Sydney's northern beaches.

Sophie lost both feet, some fingers and suffered third degree burns to 85 per cent of her body.

Molly spent almost two months in intensive care, enduring 18 rounds of surgery for burns to about 40 per cent of her body before she was released from hospital in early March.

"This is a magical day, absolutely magical day and it's the second magical day we've had here with Molly going home first and now Sophie," burns specialist John Harvey said.

Mr Delezio described Sophie's progress as a miracle and an inspiration.

"Every day we stayed positive and we prayed to God and the blessed Mary Mackillop for a miracle to save Sophie's life," Mr Delezio said.

"We have a long way to go and (we're) not sure what the future holds, but we welcome the next stages in our lives."

Sophie's departure from hospital is the first step on a very long road to rehabilitation.

"It never stops, neither the physio nor the emotional support nor the medical support or further operations – (it) will go on well into her teenage years," Dr Harvey said.

Sophie requires almost hourly physiotherapy so her joints don't stiffen, and will return to the hospital three times a week for treatment.

Dr Harvey said Sophie's operations would continue for another 10-12 years and she would also need counselling, particularly when she became more conscious of her body image.

But tonight, the Delezio family will do the thing Sophie wanted to do first when she got out of hospital: sit on the grass and look at the stars and the moon.
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