Melbourne City star Marco Tilio had a “rough” start to life as a child. His parents share his journey with KEEPUP and the panic around his move to the Isuzu UTE A-League premiers three years ago.
Marco Tilio is already a two-time Isuzu UTE A-League champion, a Socceroo and an Olympian. He is also one of Australia’s brightest talents.
But, the 21-year-old Melbourne City star almost didn’t make it to this point.
Within a week of his birth, Tilio was fighting bacterial meningitis – an infection of the membranes that protect the spinal cord and brain.
KEEPUP watched the 2023 Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final with Marco Tilio’s entire family. Watch the full feature below.
“Marco had a very rough start to life,” his mother Melina Tilio told KEEPUP. “Born a screaming beautiful baby boy but at six days old, he was fighting bacterial meningitis.
“He was suffering seizures and high temperatures, but he got through it.
“It’s true that he is a fighter. He doesn’t give up. He gets knocked down and gets up again. We were at Sydney Children’s Hospital for a month. We came home not knowing the future, whether he had after affects or long-term affects.”
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Unfortunately for Marco and his family, he was back in hospital at six weeks old.
Why? The after effect of hydrocephalus – enlargement of the head.
“Doctors wanted to insert a shunt to drain the fluid from his head,” Melina Tilio said prior to Saturday’s 6-1 Grand Final defeat to Central Coast Mariners. “A blessing the surgery was postponed. There were lots of tears and prayers.
“The surgery was postponed and it came out that his head was not growing as fast as it was, it was slowing down.
“They said to keep an eye on it. A blessing that the surgery didn’t go ahead. We had to watch his development over the next 12 months to see if there were any after effects. It was a worrying 12 months but he got through it.
“He was monitored up until school age. He was with the neurosurgeon up until one years of age for hydrocephalus… we feel very blessed.”
His father Michael Tilio added: “He had a rough start to life and that probably contributed to the spirit that he has. He’s always been smaller than the other people and he’s always had to fight harder.”
Fast forward to now and Marco Tilio is flying, not only in the A-Leagues but for the Socceroos. He was part of the squad that reached the last 16 of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar.
A champion with Sydney FC and Melbourne City, he has won four straight Premierships – three of those with the latter.
Tilio – who scored for the Olyroos at the 2020 Tokyo Games – has established himself as one of the competition’s best and most exciting players amid growing links with a move abroad.
Leaving his boyhood club Sydney for Melbourne in 2020 has proven to be a wise choice. He has taken his game to a whole new level, but it was a tough decision to leave the Sky Blues.
It was also a race against the clock.
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“Melbourne (City) expressed interest in Marco and made an offer (with) a plan. It was exactly what Marco was after,” Melina Tilio said.
“Sydney at the time couldn’t match that. It was a very difficult decision to go to Melbourne because he was leaving the team he loved and leaving the family home. It was really hard.
“The offer expired at midnight and we signed it probably at 11:30pm at night and scanned it through. Then it was like oh my god, we’ve done it, you’re going.”
She continued: “We were celebrating (his brother) Joey’s birthday and they were like, you have until midnight. And we were like we have a party. So it was like, print, sign. We got it through and we were celebrating the party.”
Tilio’s father Michael added: “The agent rang and said ‘what’s the problem, why isn’t the contract signed?’ Because Melbourne had contacted him. They were too busy partying.”
