Daniel Defino thought all his dreams were coming true. After trying for 12 months to have a baby, he and wife Maria had a "gut feeling" she was finally pregnant.
But his world was cruelly torn apart a few weeks ago when a 79-year-old nun, who is believed to have suffered an epileptic fit behind the wheel of her car, ploughed into them. The couple were cycling to Botany Cemetery in Sydney's south-eastern suburbs to visit Daniel's mother's grave when the accident occurred.
"From what I remember, I got flung forward. She was behind me," Daniel told news.com.au. "The first thing I obviously yelled for was Maria. I couldn't see her because she ended up under a boat (parked on the side of the street).
"She had a few breaths left in her. You could see she was fighting. I was just asking her to come back and not to leave me. I was asking her to stay."
Bystanders desperately tried to help Maria before paramedics arrived, but she died at the scene. Daniel suffered minor injuries, while the nun was treated for shock and taken to hospital.
At Maria's funeral, Father Athanasios Giatsios said a "big question mark" hung over her death: "Why did Maria leave at this young age? Why did God allow for her to leave this earth in such a tragic way? Maria was always a loving person with a beautiful smile who always cared for her loved ones and those who she did not know."