I forgot all of my problems today
 

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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.

Makes all my stuff seem so small. I couldn't even imagine what that poor girl had to go through. She's obviously a fighter and I hope she goes on to even greater things in life.

Poor little girl. :(
I think that I'll quit whining about my (now seemingly trivial) problems today.

Indeed, stories like this certainly help to put a lot of things into perspective. We should make a point to post more inspiring stories like this on TFP.

Agreed.

I'm sorry for being a complete monster, but would you really want to live like that? Hourly physiotherapy so your joints don't stiffen is bad enough... but she has no feet or fingers, and she is burned to the third degree on 85% of her body. She can't walk or function. You know as well as I do as to how image based any society is, and she will have to go into counselling to deal with it.

I wouldn't. My neighbour down the street is only about sixty years old, and has multiple sclerosis. He calls me periodically because he needs help getting a menial task done; painting a fence or even getting a pot down from a cupboard. The man was a firefighter in his regular life, a do-it-yourselfer who built most of the house himself. Before the disease desecrated his body. When I'm over there, I can hear the misery in his voice, and sometimes he is so overcome with grief that he begins to cry. I can't even handle it.

Just something else to think about, I guess..

well, when it's someone else's kid then sure let the kid die, so I don't have to hear about it, it's a diff story if it's your child

Oh man...now I'm just depressed, that poor little girl...:(

Sorry, I knew that was going to ruin the story for some people :(
Cheer up... but life certainly is strange sometimes, huh?

I'm not sure I'm seeing what's inspiring in this story.

10 -12 more years of operations (pain)
3 times a week at the hospital (more pain)
hourly physiotherapy (still more pain)

Doesn't seem fair to subject a child to a life like this... and seems awfully selfish - though that's not the right word really on the part of the parents - It would be interesting to see the followup on this childs story in a few years.

Ok, I'm thoroughly depressed - I wanna join them and

male: I was going to throw the s-word - and pretty much everything you said - into my first post, but I dared not. I'm glad someone had the cojones to.

I have to agree with several of you about this being selfish. She would be much better off dead than to live a life like the one she faces. Although, extremely sad, sometimes you just have to let go. I hope for the best for her and her family though.

As a parent I am torn in my opinion of this...quality of life is what first popped in my head..."playing god" is another thought I had...the childs physical AND emotional pain vs my pain which would be purely emotional...Could I be so selfish as to make her endure that just to keep her living? Could I be so unselfish to be willing to take care of her the rest of her life?

Im very undecided on my feelings on this...maybe confused is a better word

It may seem selfish to keep the girl alive after all the pain and grief she is destined to endure, but think of it in the parents' perspective! It would be hell to lose a child, and to have the daily reminder that you pulled the plug on your own child.

How about the daily reminder that your child's tortured existance was your decision?

Tough call -- I'm not sure what I'd do. But, I think I would pull the plug with the idea that if she really wants (wanted) to live, she would -- she is a "fighter" after all. Then again, I wonder if I could live with my child dying before me. Wow, who knows until you are actually in the shoes?

Wow, after thinking about that situation, I feel like a ninny for every time I ever bitched, moaned, groaned, or complained. What a trooper.

Read the last part-they lay on the grass and looked up at the stars.
Ask most people who have survived horrific events and most will say they are thankful they survived,even if, during the worst of it, they wished they hadn't. Surely you must know someone in a wheelchair or blind? And, who says her existence would be torturous?
For whatever reason, this little girl's inner will to live won out over all odds-she will have a remarkable life.

Remarkably painful.

Sophie
 

Yep, this one touched me deeply. I read about it work via the 'net on the afternoon the accident happened, and my mind instantly thought of my own toddler, aged three, sleeping in her daycare centre. The idea of these sleeping children being burnt like this just horrified me for a long time.

But Sophie's parents, being apparently religious people, asked Australian people to pray for their little girl, so I did. And now she faces a life of physical and possibly emotional impairment, but at least she has her life.

*edit: Picture of child removed*

The playing God part came in when they put her on life suport in the first place. If they would have just let her die, it would have been nature taking it's course.

I would have pulled her off, but then again I'm not a parent. I hope she finds meaning in her life.

i'm glad I'm not the only one who finds this.. disturbing. This child was for all intensive purposes dead. Through millions of dollars in surgeries and operations and physiotheraphy, she has won the battle for her life. Is it right for this child to recieve so much care when the same amount of money in africa could save the lives of tens or even hundreds of thousands of children?
And even though she lives, what is the quality of that life? Her entire life she will be undergoing painful physical therapy and because of her appearance she will not be accepted as a normal member of society. Reduced mobility and horribly disfigured appearance will more likely than not force her into a "special" class in school, where she will recieve a lower level education. Even if she completes a normal high school diploma she'll have trouble finding a solid job, and difficulty finding a Significant other. Her life is going to be hell.

Why her parents kept her on life support and decided to drag her through so much pain I fail to understand. Perhaps you lose perspective when it is your own child.