Real-life reads
Accidental hero: Sophia’s emotional reunion; It’s all go for Bo: Kiwi kid’s TV coup
As Sophia Malthus lay on the ground of an Auckland horse stable, unable to move, young paramedic Sam Horn knelt beside her and held the aspiring jockey’s hand, calmly telling her his name.
“I can see your name because it says it on your badge,” a young Sophia replied, her humour the last response Sam expected from someone who had just fallen from a horse and couldn’t feel her legs.
Now, two years after the brunette beauty was rushed to Middlemore Hospital with a spinal cord injury, the St John Ambulance paramedic, 22, is about to make a surprise visit to Sophia’s Auckland home, with Woman’s Day in tow.
Nervously waiting outside in his work uniform, Sam tells us, “There aren’t many jobs I can remember all the details of, but Sophia’s I do. I remember how she was lying, how I introduced myself, how I reversed out the driveway and her morale. I’m looking forward to seeing her. It’s such a special moment.”
Indeed, when unsuspecting Sophia – who’s now a tetraplegic and uses a wheelchair – lays eyes on her young hero, her face lights up and the pair share a hug. Grinning but tearful, Sam says to her, “It’s pretty surreal to see how you’re going and it makes me feel super-privileged. Anyone should look up to you.”
Dabbing away her tears, Sophia, 20 – who stars in Attitude Pictures’ documentary series on TVNZ 1 on May 27 – thanks him for making that traumatic day a little easier. “As soon as he walked in, I knew it was him, even though I can’t remember much from that day,” she tells us. “It’s strange, but it’s really nice to be able to talk to him.”
And there is a lot of talk! After a long flow of questions and answers between the pair, Sophia laughs, “This is like First
Dates New Zealand!” Smiling, Sam adds, “I remember your bubbly, happy personality and the way you took on such a life-changing experience. It was truly amazing and you still haven’t changed.”
Runawayhorse
Thinking back to that day in November 2016, Sophia, who had been riding for 13 years, recalls, “My horse got spooked and bolted on me. He got faster and faster, and as we came to a bend, I thought about jumping off.”
Moments later, the then18-year-old was on the ground. Sophia recalls, “I thought, ‘That’s a good jump,’ because my feet didn’t get stuck in the stirrups, but then I realised I’d fallen.”
Dazed and winded, Sophia asked a rider who came to her rescue to place her feet on the ground, but they were already there. She says, “It felt like the gravity was gone. That’s when they called the ambulance because they realised I couldn’t feel my legs.”
Among the attending officers was newbie Sam, then 20, who sat and talked with Sophia as her paralysis set in from the collarbone down and her chest became itchy. To lighten the mood, she joked, “Will someone please itch my boobs?!”
Laughing at the memory, Sophia adds, “There’s also the undies story.” She goes on to describe how she asked “cute” Sam to turn away while her clothes were cut off because she was wearing an embarrassingly old pair of Hello Kitty knickers. “Of course, that’s the day they get cut off me!” she grins.
Despite her jokes, Sophia knew the injuries were serious. She recalls, “They gave me medication in the ambulance that made me nauseous. That’s all I can remember before waking up at hospital and seeing Mum. I said to her, ‘I’m paraplegic,’ and then apologised.”
Sophia’s mother, beauty therapist Flick Davies, 40, arrived at the hospital the same time as the ambulance. She tells, “I was at home, about to go do my Christmas shopping, when I got the call. I knew when they said spinal injury, it meant paralysis and I just broke down.
“When Sophia told me she was paralysed, she looked up for my reaction and it reminded me of the first time I held her as a tiny little baby. She was born early and had to be in an incubator for three weeks, and the way she struggled to open her eyes was so similar. It was like being back there.”
Sophia was able to return home a year after her accident, and now has movement in her biceps and hands, so she can accomplish small tasks, like putting on her own make-up.
Despite having to readjust to a whole different life, Sophia still loves horses and hopes to get married one day. She smiles, “The first thing you think when you’re paralysed is, ‘Am I still lovable?’ But if I have a husband, he’ll be a really nice one.”