I Love My Life And Nothing Can Stop Me

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Making sure her bright yellow L plates are in place, Sophie Delezio jumps behind the wheel of her family’s specially modified car and cheerily waves goodbye.

The 17-year-old loves to hit the road, and has bravely tackled the task of learning to drive like every other challenge in her life – with grace and more than a pinch of her trademark determination.

Sophie even clocked up the required 120 hours for her NSW licence in a speedy eight months by driving to and from school on weekdays, as well as trips around Sydney on weekends, with one of her parents – Ron and Carolyn – or a carer in the passenger seat.

“I’m in heaven as long as I’m the one in the driver’s seat and in control. I just love to drive,” she grins. “I enjoy the way it makes me feel – free!”

Freedom means everything to Sophie, the beautiful little girl in bandages and fairy wings Australia fell in love with as she recovered from not one, but two near-fatal childhood accidents.

Nearly 15 years ago, a car ploughed into Sophie’s daycare centre and burst into flames, causing burns to 85 per cent of her body and costing the then-two-year-old most of her skin, her right ear, the fingers of her right hand and, along with both lower legs, her mobility. Then, in 2006, Sophie was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing and suffered bleeding on the brain, which took away her sense of smell.