WEBVTT - Sophie Delezio Wouldn’t Change A Thing 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.080 People always ask me, like, if you could go back 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:04.080 and change it, would you? 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:04.840 No way? 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:09.039 Because everything in my life, everything's happened, the good, the bad, 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.240 ugly has brought me to this moment today and I 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:13.160 love my life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.160 Hello. 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.239 I'm Kate Lanebrook, host of No Filter. Today's guest is 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:23.280 Sophie Delizio. Most Australians met Sophie when she was two 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.840 years old after a car crashed into her childcare center 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.520 and left her fighting for her life. She survived, and 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:37.440 then extraordinarily survived a second catastrophic accident just a few 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.520 years later. She grew up in hospitals, in the headlines 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:44.120 and in the hearts of a country that has been 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.600 quietly following her ever since. But the woman sitting across 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.839 from me today isn't the little girl from those front pages. 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:56.720 She's twenty five. She's married to her childhood sweetheart, and 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:00.360 a new mom working out like every new mum, hold 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.200 on to herself in the middle of it all. We 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:05.880 talk about what it's actually like to build an identity 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.160 beyond the story people think they already know about you, 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.920 about motherhood, and the particular fear a cesarean brought up 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:18.199 for someone who's spent a lifetime in operating theaters about 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.640 why she stepped away from social media completely and what 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.880 brought her back, and about her new podcast and why 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:27.960 she's finally ready to talk about. 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.319 Her own accidents on her own terms. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.839 This is the extraordinary, Sophie Dealizio. 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.600 Sophie Dealisio, welcome to No Filter. 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:43.560 Thank you. I honored to be here. 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.640 Well, you had a bit of an ordeal finding us, 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.800 which we were just discussing. It involved you having to 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.320 navigate your way from another part of the building. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:55.960 Everything looks sort of foreign. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:58.880 But I was surprised because when I look at the 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:04.440 achievements of your life life, I imagine that you're an 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.840 extremely well organized person. 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:09.280 I try to be. 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.839 My husband would say otherwise, but he knows the other 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.240 side of me, and usually he's the one picking up 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:15.760 the pieces. 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.040 But no, I try to be organized. A love a list. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:20.959 I make a list of lists and it's very s 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.360 Oh really, and do you cross them off? 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:24.320 Oh? 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.040 Yes, I'll do the most mundane task just to take 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.040 it off, like I'll right like wake. 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:35.040 Up, and I'll take that off, wake up. That's all the. 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.680 Small things that's really going lowest common denominator, wake up. 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.400 Oh yeah, but actually that's a good ticks for people 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.160 who feel like they're really in a hole in life. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.079 Yeah, it's a win. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.320 You've at least done that, Yeah, exactly. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:55.960 Well, you know, it's interesting talking about waking up because you, 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:01.880 as a little girl came probably as close to death 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:08.280 as it's possible to come, and as a consequence. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:12.640 Of which you were really held in the heart of 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.760 the nation from that point. 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.880 In two thousand and three, you were two years old 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:27.200 and I had just had my first baby, Lewis, And 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.440 you know, you're a mother now, so you know that 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.760 there are certain that the children of the world sort 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:37.880 of feel like your children when you've just had a baby. 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:38.360 Yeah. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.000 Absolutely, And so it feels like I've spent a lot 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:44.119 of my life with you. 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.200 But you're very young. You're twenty five. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.800 I am, but I and a lot of people have 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.400 known you for a lot of your life. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:57.280 I get that a lot. 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:58.280 Yeah, it's your mass. 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.000 Really lovely to hear. I wish I knew everyone as 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:03.320 well as they know me. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.880 Well, that would take a huge capacity. 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.560 But is an interesting thing because as a result of 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:16.159 the injuries that you sustained when you were little, you're 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.840 quite distinctive as well, aside from the fact that we've 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:23.480 seen your face on magazines and you know, but so 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:28.720 people recognize you when they see you, and do they 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:34.200 then put the pieces together of who you are? Yeah? 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:34.880 Absolutely. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.480 I think my husband's very perceptive to this, and he'll 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.000 see people noticing me from a distance and then thinking 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:43.280 to themselves, so do I go up? 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:43.680 Do I not? 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:46.520 Most of the time people come up, and it's always 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.919 lovely to hear the impact my story has had on 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:54.520 them and what, you know, the views that has shown 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.120 them for the world, and you know the reality of 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.880 what can happen, and you know, that's the reason why 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.560 parents put my story out there was to spread awareness 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:10.720 of disability and burns and amputees and amputations and wheelchairs 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:12.919 and prosthetics and all that jazz that comes with my 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.799 life and to hear that it does have that impact 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.080 and it still carries that impact, as you know, was 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.160 the original goal and continues to be, which is great. 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.520 Because there may be some people who don't know. Can 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.279 you tell us so who you were in two thousand 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.320 and three you were two years old, yes, that was 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.760 two and a half, and what was your family like 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:36.640 at that point? 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:41.480 Yeah, we had a pretty ish normal family. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.159 My had my two parents, Ron and Carolyn, and I 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.360 have an older brother, Mitchell, and I have an older 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:54.480 brother John from my dad's previous marriage, and we Other 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.760 than that, it was a pretty normal life. 0:05:58.360 --> 0:05:58.600 Yeah. 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.239 My mum's family all lived overseas and my dad's family 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:08.040 didn't live nearby but was still in Sydney, and it 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.560 was pretty normal. I mean, it was leading up to Christmas, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.799 so we'd put up the Christmas tree it happened. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.320 Which is two year old. That do you remember that? 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:23.800 Because the first Christmas tree that you remember teends to 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.440 be around that age, maybe three. 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:26.080 Yeah. 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.360 That's the thing is like, I can't I don't know 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.279 if I remember it, or I'm remembering it because I 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.159 saw a photo and I made it up in my mind, 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.080 or I'm made it up because my parents told me 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:38.560 the story. 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:40.680 I can't say for sure. 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.280 I like my memory is a bit foggy from back then, 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:47.680 So it's a mix of stories and you know, maybe 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:49.080 fignant or my imagination. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:49.600 I don't know. 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.840 Yes, and you are someone whose story has been told, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.680 yes by other people many times as well. 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.160 Yeah, it almost feels like someone else's story and it's 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.320 not a bad thing. I'm you know, very happy in 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.040 a lot of ways that I don't remember what happened 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:09.720 to me, but there does leave pieces unsolved, and I 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:10.640 guess I'll never know. 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.440 My true version of it because I don't remember. 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.360 And that could be a combination of things, the medication 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.000 I was on, the brain, injury from my second accident, 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:24.040 or just my body making me forget, which you know, 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:25.800 all are very probable. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.680 With reasons, or the fact that you were two years old. 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:34.400 Old exactly, so I don't really remember having feet or 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:36.200 you know, jumping and running. 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:36.840 But it's weird. 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:41.000 I can feel I can still remember the feeling of 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.360 sand between my toes, so like if I'm at the beach, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.320 and obviously I can put my hands through the sand 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.160 and all that, yeh, but I know what it would 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.400 feel like to have sand between. 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.720 My toes, that sensory feeling. Yeah, And that could be. 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.280 Just because I could, you know, figure it out on 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:58.920 my own and like, oh, I guess that's what it 0:07:58.960 --> 0:07:59.440 feels like. 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.720 But I'm pretty certain of that and I just remember that. 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.280 But yeah, I was, I mean two and a half 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.760 years old. The night before my first accident, my parents 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.960 went out for their wedding anniversary, which was two days prior, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.840 so we had a babysitter and yeah, the day it happened, 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:21.960 we were waiting for Santa Claus to come on a 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.720 fire truck, right, and it was I don't know why 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.520 he was coming on a fire truck, but for some 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:26.960 reason he. 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.000 Often counts on a fire truck. I think in Australia 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:32.600 we have trouble finding binder. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.680 Yeah, that's true. Race. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:41.040 I's not at that stage yet, so that does make sense. Yeah, 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.560 And I always say in my keynote speeches, which gets 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.320 laugh I have a very dark sense of humor, and 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.920 it's you know, the fire truck came, but Santa didn't 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.760 bush wow, bit bad but oh well. But yeah, the 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.560 basically the sum of it is, and this is a 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.720 very short version because I've been got pretty good at 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.800 cutting it down. We were asleep waiting for Santa Claus 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:05.440 to arride, So. 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.160 You were at kinda Yeah, so I was in pre school. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:14.160 We were all asleep in our room and I had 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.480 I was in the middle of I don't know, I 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.200 can't remember how we slept, but there were two people 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.760 on either side of me, and man driving a car 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.560 had a seizure. His foot was on the accelerator. The 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.040 car keptin going hit the curb, flew over a classroom 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:30.720 of eighteen month old babies, which I just want to 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.520 point out, like the car literally skipped over entire classroom, 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.400 that's how high it flew and landed on top of me. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:41.880 The wheels well on top of the book like there 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.800 was a bookshelf, so it kind of like lifted the 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.600 car off the ground a little bit, so I wasn't squished, 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.360 but I was still underneath and the wheels kept on turning, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.760 and you know, as science has it created friction and 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.559 fiction cause fire. So yeah, the car caught a light 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.920 and myself and one of the people next to me 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:05.800 were trapped under the car. The person on the other 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:11.080 side escaped without a scratch, which is amazing. And yeah, 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:16.400 we were eventually pulled out and taken to local hospital, 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.080 which wasn't able to treat our extensive burns in a 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:25.080 pediatric case, so we were then helicoptered over to Sydney 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:25.959 Children's Hospital. 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:32.280 When you say extensive burns, Sophie, it was to eighty 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:33.640 percent of your body, was it? 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:37.040 Yes, So I can't remember the statistics from the other 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.240 person's burns, but mine were eighty five to ninety percent 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.719 of my body third degree and some fourth degree burns. 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.480 So essentially, like fourth degree is basically on my back. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.440 I have a very small layer of skin, no fat, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.880 no flesh even, it's just literally skin and bone. 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.440 But you were sleeping on your tummy, is that right? 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.560 And that that saved you? 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:02.040 Really? 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.840 Yeah, so that's why only a part of my face 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.520 is burnt. It's like, you know, it cuts off the 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.240 end of my right eyebrow barely, and then I don't 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.480 have an ear on my right hand side, and the 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.080 back of my head is all burnt, but my face 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:21.640 is relatively unburnt. And yeah, my all my vital organs 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.960 were protected because of that, which is crazy if you look. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.440 At it back at it now now that you also 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:35.000 have Frankie, your baby, who's similar in age now to 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:41.959 what you is, almost two. The I can't even imagine 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:43.800 how that was for your parents at the time. 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:46.400 It was crazy. 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.960 Yeah, how what what happened from in them putting together 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.880 the mosaic of your life through their version of events 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:56.600 or did they not talk about it much when you 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:57.319 were growing up? 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:03.360 Or so when I had my legs amputated. I don't 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:09.920 actually know how far into my hospital stay or post 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.080 accident I had my legs amputated because I was in 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:16.199 an induced coma for I'm going to say two months. 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.439 I can't remember exactly, but around that period. I was 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:24.840 in ICU for around two and a half months, and 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.240 I was obviously not in a great state. I was 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.600 on life support, so I wasn't conscious during that period. 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.280 And one of the things they consulted a psychiatrist on 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.520 how to deal with, you know, this whole psychologist on 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.960 how to deal with all this, you know, with my 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.160 understanding of it, and they said, don't tell her anything, 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.640 let her figure it out for herself. So I woke 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.880 up after losing my legs and I don't know again, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.560 I don't know how far after this was, and I 0:12:57.640 --> 0:12:59.840 just looked at my parents said I don't have legs 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.319 on it more, just as simple as that. And there 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.000 was no you know, tears, is nothing, because I was 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.200 two and a half to and half actually understands the 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.360 like what that actually means. It was just a matter 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.080 of fact, Okay, this is my reality now moving on. 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.640 I guess that's the beauty of childhood ignorance. 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:20.000 As well. 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.160 Yes, and yeah, to a certain extent. You only know 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:24.960 what you know. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.600 Yeah, So the you that you find yourself in is. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.880 You, Yeah, exactly. I was still whoever I was at 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.760 two and a half, you know. Obviously it was a 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:43.280 bit different from my brother Mitchell, who was four at 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:49.840 the time. That was a different, you know, like story 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.680 for him, you know, obviously remembering what my life was 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:58.320 before and then and when my parents told him that 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:02.720 I was losing my legs, he said, don't worry, Mummy 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:03.120 and Daddy. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.880 Her legs were back like a lizard's tail. And he 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:08.600 was obsessed with this. 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.640 Is at the time obviously, but just that you know, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:13.760 again child on ignorance, thinking, you know, it's all going 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:15.599 to be okay, and that was his way of accompanying 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:20.080 mom and dad. But you know, they obviously handled it 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.840 pretty well because I'm here. They were asked countless times 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.560 to turn my life support machine off, and that's obviously 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.400 a decision. They decided not to go down. Well, sorry, path, 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:31.440 they decided not to go down. 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.720 Do you know why they decided not to do? You 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:35.280 know what I mean? 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:41.120 Was it because they had faith in the fact that 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.680 you were able to recover. 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:46.160 I think so. 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:50.320 I mean, at the time, there were very few pediatric 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:56.200 burns that were of that extent in the media, especially 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:57.120 at Australian standards. 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:58.960 There wasn't you know. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.960 Obviously there's some amazing burn survivors out there who had 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:07.960 immediate presence before, but not in my of my age group. 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:11.080 Yes, not many three year olds. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:16.160 No, no, So they had nothing really to compare it to. Yes, yeah, exactly. 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:22.840 And they consulted my surgeon a lot, and he's was 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.080 my surgeon from day one and it's still my surgeon 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.760 to the day. And he they said, you know, how 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.360 do we know how much she can bear? And his response, 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:37.040 he was always very is, very wise with his you know, analogies, 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.680 and he said, well, how much kind of koala bear? 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.920 And it's a bit nonsensical, it's you know, very metaphorical 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.760 and philosophical when you think about it and whatever. But 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.480 that was the saying that made my parents hold on really. 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.480 And it was really crazy because the night before my wedding, 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.680 I was in an airbnb with my maids and was 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:05.400 steaming my wedding dress and Mum came in and the 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:07.960 painting above the bed of the room we were in 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.480 was a Koala bear and that's the room that I 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.160 got dressed, and like I got my wedding dress on 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.200 the day after and everything. 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.920 So that was very you know, full circle. So I did. 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.400 I There were so many different reasons why they held on, 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.760 and you know, there was a clean accumulation of things 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.880 from the support they had, their you know, faith in 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.640 one another and the love and I don't know what 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.720 it is, but they just did. 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.120 And at the time, I think, and you're in hospital 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.680 for like a year, and I think, as I said before, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:48.080 the nation was very invested in you. And then you 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:55.080 would think that that is enough for one small creature. 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:55.440 Wouldn't you. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:17:00.400 You would think, yep, that is the lightning strike that 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:01.240 has happened. 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:03.240 Let's do it again. 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:09.320 And yet when you were five, Yeah. 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.080 I was crossing the road with my Cara and my 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.800 assistant dog and I was in a pram at the time, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.920 and a driver got blinded by the sun and didn't 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:21.560 see me crossing the road, hit my stroller and I 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.840 flew eighteen meters in the air, learning headfirst on the pavement. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.720 It's quite extraordinary. 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:35.240 And that so the complication, so you were already dealing 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.679 with the surgeries that you were having. 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:42.200 Yeah, I still have been ongoing things. Absolutely, I don't 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.520 think that well. I mean it still hasn't stopped, so 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.920 it certainly didn't stop that right that accident, I ended 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:55.280 up in Sydney Children's Hospital and Randwick and I suffered 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:01.680 all internal injuries. I had a brain injury, broken ribs, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.879 something happened to my lung. I honestly can't remember the 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.480 list of things because there was just so many little 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:12.239 breaks and bruises, but the two Maine injuries that I 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:13.840 still lived to this days. 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.720 I have a brain injury and I lost my sense 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:17.160 of smell. 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:23.040 Ah, really, which I want to point out, I did 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.400 not tell my parents that I couldn't smell until I 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.200 was like fourteen, and I just went up to my 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:30.960 mum one day. I was like, do you know I 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:35.560 can't smell? And She's like no, I was like, I 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.399 just it's not something I like ever communicated. 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:39.520 I don't know why. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.359 Okay, this is interesting because it once again requires seeing 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.960 things through the prism of a child. But did you 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:52.439 notice that you couldn't smell or did it just become 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.399 your new normal that you couldn't smell? 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:56.560 Yeah? I think so. 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.320 Like if anyone ever puts even to the date, put 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:00.680 a flower to my I'd. 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.880 Be like, hmm, smells great, and this is one. 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.000 Of my close friends or family. But even my mom 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.359 forgets or my husband forgets. I can't actually know my 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.240 husband probably not so much, but everyone else in my 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.320 life forgets, and they'll be like, oh, that smells good, and. 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:13.960 I don't know. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.920 Yeah, I just think I either just thought they knew 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.480 because I'm like, well, they knew all my diagnosis, but 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.840 then I kind of forgot that, Oh yeah, there's no 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:27.760 actually way they would know. 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.679 Maybe presumably in the scale of what you had endured 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.760 and you were enduring, maybe sense of smell just never 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.520 even came up in yeah as being significant. 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.320 Absolutely, But the way to actually test if you can't smell, 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.000 it's the silliest. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:47.320 Test on this planet. 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.400 Because you've got hundreds of thousands of nerves between your eyebrows. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.080 Let's just say, yeah, that's. 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.600 Connecting your nose to your brain, and their microscopic they're 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.440 so tiny because it's such a small space. Only way 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.640 to test it, or at least the way I got tested, 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.840 was you have to smell a liquid and say if 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.200 it's sweet, sour, or savory. 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:10.760 From the scenes of it. 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.240 Yeah, and you can't answer I don't know. 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.280 Oh, okay, getting it right? 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.800 Yeah, and I got I think it was like sixty 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:22.560 percent correct. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:24.680 And I can promise. 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:29.240 You I had zero sense of smell and I just 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.600 lucked out by guessing sixty That's why we love. 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:33.880 Multiple choice exams. 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.440 Yeah, exactly. If only I did so well at multiple 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.880 choice at school. Yeah, it was the weirdest test. 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.480 But what did your mum say, by the way, when 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:44.320 you were fourteen and you told her. 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:46.960 I think she was like, oh, we should probably get 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:48.840 that looked down or something along that it was. 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.080 You know, it's so insignificant because it obviously hasn't changed 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:55.960 anything about my life. Yes, there are some risks in 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.720 terms of if there's you know, a fire, I can't 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:05.680 smell it, or your baby. Yeah, yeah exactly. My husband 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:09.720 says it's a superpowers Yeah, like it's it's not the 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:10.440 end of the world. 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:12.200 It just complicates some things. 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:19.280 But your parents gave you an extraordinary gift, it seems, 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:25.680 in their attitude towards you and how you would negotiate 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:31.240 life with the complications that's presented. And what was that, 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.399 I mean, knowing what you know of them now. Was 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:39.119 that an ideology that they came up with together or 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:40.960 was that just kind of on the fly that they 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.040 both had this, Well, we're going to focus on what 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.640 Sophie can do, not what she can't do. 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.919 I think that would have been a decision they made together. 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:57.600 Kind of speaks to both of them. They come from, 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:02.320 you know, very resilient family. Both their parents, you know, 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:08.160 lived through the war, and you know, my dad's both 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.680 my dad's parents grew up in Malta during the war, 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.600