Sophie Delezio, now 25, has revealed that she kept a significant medical complication a secret from her family for nearly a decade following a severe car accident when she was five years old. The incident, which occurred three years after a previous catastrophic accident at her childcare center, resulted in a brain injury and the complete loss of her sense of smell.
Delezio shared the details of this long-held secret in a recent conversation on the No Filter podcast with Kate Langbroek. She explained that she was in a stroller when a driver, blinded by the sun, failed to see her crossing the road. The impact propelled her 18 meters before she landed headfirst on the pavement, leading to her hospitalization at Sydney Children's Hospital. Among her injuries were internal damage, a brain injury, broken ribs, and a lung issue.
However, two consequences of this second accident would persist long after her other injuries healed: the brain injury and the loss of her sense of smell. Delezio kept the anosmia (loss of smell) a secret from her parents until she was 14 years old. She recalled approaching her mother one day and asking if she knew she couldn't smell, to which her mother responded with surprise.
Delezio speculated that because she had already endured so many medical procedures and diagnoses after her first accident, she may have assumed her parents were aware of all her conditions, or she simply forgot to mention this particular loss. For a child who had already experienced such trauma, the loss of a sense became another part of her altered reality.
Even as an adult, Delezio noted that people close to her sometimes forget about her inability to smell. She described a tendency to play along when offered flowers, saying they smell nice, even though she cannot perceive any scent. Her husband, Joseph, is more aware of this aspect of her life, and Delezio humorously referred to her condition as a "superpower."
While Delezio does not consider her lack of smell a major impediment, she acknowledged the potential safety risks, such as the inability to detect the smell of smoke in a fire. After she finally disclosed the loss to her mother as a teenager, her mother suggested they investigate it further. Delezio later underwent testing to confirm the loss, describing the experience as one of the "silliest" tests she had encountered, where she was asked to identify liquids by smell, and despite having no olfactory sense, she guessed correctly about 60 percent of the time.
This revelation adds another layer to Delezio's well-known story, which first gained national attention in 2003. At two and a half years old, she was sleeping in her Sydney childcare center when a car crashed into the building. The driver, who reportedly suffered a seizure, drove over a classroom of babies before crashing into the area where Delezio was sleeping. The resulting fire left her with third and fourth-degree burns to 85 to 90 percent of her body. She spent months in intensive care and underwent the amputation of both her legs, while her parents made the difficult decision to continue life support.
Now a mother herself, Delezio has also spoken about navigating public life and the pressures of social media, having taken a year-long break due to overwhelming criticism. Despite the profound challenges she has faced, Delezio stated that she does not consider herself unlucky, embracing her life experiences as integral to who she is today.