IN 2003 the smiles and courage of Sophie Delezio, then aged 2, won the admiration of people across Australia after she was gravely injured by an elderly driver whose car crashed into her childcare centre in Sydney. Yesterday Sophie, now aged 5, was back on life support in a Sydney hospital after being hit by another elderly driver on a pedestrian crossing.

Once again Australians were praying for the little girl’s recovery; and again her parents were keeping a vigil at her bedside. “I don’t know whether it is bad luck or if I have done something bad in the past and it’s just coming back,” Ron Delezio, her father, said. “It’s just so hard. I’m tired of trying to stay strong,” he added, breaking into tears.

On Friday a family friend was pushing Sophie home in her pushchair from her new school, which had just spent A$400,000 (£166,300) on facilities to accommodate her disabilities, when an 80-year-old driver failed to see them as they walked across a pedestrian crossing.

His car, travelling about 35mph, struck the pushchair, knocking it several yards down the road. Sophie, who was still undergoing treatment for the injuries from her first accident, was again badly injured. Doctors say that she has a broken jaw, a broken shoulder bone, broken ribs, a collapsed lung and bruising to the head.

Outside the hospital, wellwishers held a candle-lit vigil after Carolyn Martin, her mother, had urged Australians: “Say a prayer for our little girl.” The hospital switchboard was jammed with calls of support. Thousands more posted messages on a website — wishesforsophie.com.

In 2003, Sophie survived against all odds after a 67-year-old driver suffered an apparent heart attack on Christmas Eve and crashed his car into the Round House childcare centre. Sophie, who was playing outside, was pinned beneath the car, which then caught fire.

She suffered 85 per cent burns and lost both feet, several fingers and an ear. But the toddler and her parents became an inspiration for many injured people and their relatives because of their unfailing optimism during Sophie’s months in hospital and many painful skin grafts.

Her parents also started a charity to support hospitals and to foster greater acceptance of burns victims.

Meanwhile, neighbours and friends are once again in shock. Irene Spike, who lives on the busy Frenchs Forest Road, near where Sophie was hit last week, said: “I went outside and I saw it was Sophie. I just stood there crying. Her face was all bruised and black. A child her age shouldn’t have that much bad luck.”

The driver, who was treated for shock at the accident scene, said that he was blinded by the sun and failed to see the girl and her carer.

Doctors at first feared that her latest head injuries were life threatening, but their optimism grew over the weekend. They said that she had suffered severe bruising to the head, but it did not seem that her brain was damaged. However, they were concerned that her broken ribs might have damaged her heart, and she faces several weeks in intensive care.

On Friday night Sophie’s mother read to her from The Little Book of Bedside Prayers — Whispers from Angels.

Jonny Taitz, who treated Sophie when she arrived at the emergency department of the Royal North Shore Hospital, in Sydney, after her 2003 accident, sat with his arm around her father.

Dr Taitz drew comfort from the remarkable recovery that Sophie made in 2003. After her first accident he had said that she had been the sickest patient he had ever treated. Although her condition in the first hours after the second accident had been “a matter of life and death”, he was confident that she would again survive.

“Everything she has done has proved medicine wrong. She is clearly a fighter because there’s no way she should have survived the first time. I am sure she will be tough this time as well,” Dr Taitz said.

The elderly driver who struck Sophie on Friday has been charged with dangerous driving.

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