Ron Delezio
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Sophie Joy Martin Delezio (born 3 April 2001) is an Australian
woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...
who was injured in two serious traffic crashes when she was young. She first gained media attention in December 2003, at 2.5 years old when she was badly injured when a car crashed into her day care centre. She suffered third-degree burns to 85% of her body and was hospitalised for almost a year, where she lost both legs from below the knee, her right hand, and an ear. She was involved in a second serious car crash in 2006 at the age of 5. Her family has become major fundraisers and activists for victims who suffer conditions like Sophie's, and have also assisted in fundraising for
The Children's Hospital at Westmead The Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW; formerly Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children) is a children's hospital in Western Sydney. The hospital was founded in 1880 as "The Sydney Hospital for Sick Children". Its name was changed to the "Royal ...
.


Family

Delezio is the first daughter of Ron Delezio and Carolyn Martin and the younger sister of Mitchell Delezio and half-sister of Catherine Delezio and John Delezio. She is one of the grand daughters of Dr. Allan Martin, a long active TV producer and senior athlete.


First crash

Delezio first came to the attention of the public on 15 December 2003 when she and Molly Wood, both two years old at the time, were badly injured when they were trapped under a burning car which had crashed through the window of the Roundhouse Childcare Centre in
Fairlight Fairlight may refer to: In places: * Fairlight, East Sussex, a village east of Hastings in southern England, UK * Fairlight, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Fairlight, Saskatchewan, Canada In other uses: * Fairlight (company), ...
,
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia. She suffered burns to 85% of her body, was hospitalised for several months, and lost both legs below the knee, right hand, and her right ear. Wood suffered burns to 40% of her body, but has since made a good recovery. Delezio was released from Westmead Children's Hospital on Monday 21 June 2004. The circumstances of the crash, and the rescue of the children by passers-by and members of the emergency services (for which a number received bravery awards) made them the subject of national news coverage. The driver who crashed into the child care centre, Donald John McNeall, was 68 at the time of the accident. He was cleared of negligent driving before a magistrate's court as it could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he did not have a
seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...
. In late 2004, Delezio's parents founded the Day of Difference Foundation, a charity dedicated to raising funds for research into pediatric burns and related diseases. As of 2009, the foundation has raised over $6.5 million. In January 2006, Delezio was enrolled at Balgowlah Heights Public School. The school was extensively refurbished to accommodate Delezio's needs. Due to the driver not being found liable, nobody was responsible for Delezio's extensive medical costs. However, the driver's compulsory third party insurance provider, the
NRMA The NRMA (trading name of National Roads and Motorists' Association) is an Australian organisation offering roadside assistance, advocacy for motorists and road-users, motoring advice, car servicing, International Driving Permits, travel, and ...
, covered the costs ex-gratia. Due to this loophole in insurance coverage the NSW government introduced the Children's Special Benefit for children under 16 where no insurance coverage is available and later introduced a similar scheme to cover third parties of any age injured in an accident where nobody is liable called "Blameless Accidents". In 2005, journalist
Mark Whittaker Mark Cornelius Whittaker (born 29 July 1965Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp 214) is an Australian journalist, non-fiction writer and writing coach. He lives in Berry, New South Wales. Early life Whittake ...
won a
Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
for his harrowing account of the rescue of dozens of children from inside The Roundhouse Childcare Centre by a large group of people who were unknown to each other. Originally published in
The Weekend Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of bot ...
, the account was adapted to become the first chapter of Whittaker's book, Brave.


Second crash

On 5 May 2006, Delezio made national headlines a second time when she was again badly injured in a road crash. While being pushed across a crossing by her nanny in a
wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...
(her
service dog An assistance dog is a dog that receives specialized training to aid an individual with a disability in navigating everyday life. Assistance dogs can be trained by an organization, or by their handler. Terminology 'Assistance dog' is the inte ...
Tara by her side) near her home in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
's northern beaches, she was hit by a car and thrown 18 metres. Delezio suffered a heart attack, a broken jaw, a broken shoulder, bruising to her head, numerous rib fractures and a tear to her left lung. She was treated at the
Sydney Children's Hospital Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, is an Australian children's hospital located in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. On 1 July 2010 it became part of the newly formed Sydney Children's Hospitals Netwo ...
,
Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...
. She left hospital and returned home to continue her recovery on 7 June 2006. An 80-year-old man, John George Sharman, was charged in relation to the second crash with "dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and not giving way to a pedestrian on a crossing". Having pleaded guilty Sharman was in October 2006 placed on a good behaviour bond for 18 months and suspended from driving for a year. Delezio's father maintained that while accidents do happen, the number of incidents occurring at the pedestrian crossing in question means it must be reconstructed. On 16 July 2006, Delezio's story was told on Channel 7's '' True Stories'' series.


Life after the crashes

Delezio returned to classes after recovery at Balgowlah Heights Public School on Thursday, 20 July 2006. In June 2011, it was reported that she aspired to be a
paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...
swimmer. She later switched to rowing. In 2020 she appeared in Series 5 of
Anh's Brush with Fame ''Anh's Brush with Fame'', also known as ''Anh Do's Brush With Fame'', is an Australian television series, first broadcast on the ABC starting 24 August 2016. The program features comedian Anh Do painting a portrait of a celebrity while intervie ...
. In April 2023 she announced her engagement. In April 2024 Sophie announced that she and her fiance Joseph Salerno are expecting their first child together in September of the same year. On September 13, 2024, Sophie announced on Instagram that she and her fiancé (Joseph Salerno) welcomed a baby boy, Frankie Salerno.


Responses

As a result of Delezio's crash, more than $14 million has been raised by the foundation the Delezio family set up, and public awareness for the need for adequate support and services for pediatric burns patients has increased. Some of these funds were raised at the Kids 4 Kids Benefit Concert held on 10 September 2006. The
NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
announced that it is investigating the possibility of reducing the age for mandatory medical checks for drivers from 80 to 75 years of age, and it agreed to install
traffic lights Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control the flow o ...
at the crossing where the crash occurred. Periodically Delezio and the two crashes are referenced in the media particularly when concerns are raised about road safety in the vicinity of educational institutions. Sophie Delezio's father Ron Delezio was an Independent candidate in the 2017 Manly state by-election.


References


Further reading

*


External links


Day of Difference FoundationSite established by Sophie's parents for wellwishers' messages
- transcript and audio of an interview of Sophie's parents on the ''Spirit of Things'' on ABC
Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...
(April 2009) {{DEFAULTSORT:Delezio, Sophie 2001 births Australian amputees Living people People from Sydney