teamMarius

Dasianu Marius Vasile is a 9-year-old Romanian boy who was severely burned in a November 2007 fire in his home that killed both of his parents. When he was admitted to the hospital, he had burns (many fourth-degree) covering 75 percent of his body, including his face. Since then, all of his fingers have been amputated because they were so badly damaged. He is being treated in what is considered one of

Marius is doing well and has been able to sit up in a wheelchair and go outside regularly. We received some great pictures. Click here and scroll to the bottom to see the latest.

Marius has made a lot of progression in his exercises and movement. He can sit up for short amounts of time with no problems and can get into and out of a wheelchair with only a little bit of help. He loves to be pushed up and down the hallway outside his room.

We have a new game we play where we pretend a balloon is a bomb and we throw it at each other. I know it sounds silly, but he loves it. His burns are looking better every day. His beautiful blue eyes and big smile always brighten up my day!

Sorry I haven't sent you an email sooner. We were out of the hospital for a few days and we've finally gotten back into the swing of things.

Special Note: Jessica & Ashley have now returned home from Romania having completed their semester there. They have been replaced by another group of wonderful students who are picking up where they left off. Melissa Reber is one of those students and sends this update:

The NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, KSL, included the story of Marius in their newscast last night (April 25th). You can read and/or watch it here.

The first segment of Utah Public Radio's feature on Marius ran this morning (4/21). You can listen to it here. The next segment will air Friday 4/25 at 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Utah time.

The feature includes interviews with many members of TeamMarius and Maruis himself! You don't want to miss it!

The last week has gone really well with Marius, and I think that he is making great progress. His legs are looking so much better, and he has been in pain a lot less often. The doctors are also giving him less medication, which is a good sign. Alina (his cousin) has been so great with him, and we were sad that we had to say goodbye to her on Saturday. We learned this week how smart Marius is. Alina bought him an etch-o-sketch and we worked on him using his mouth to write.

Sorry it’s been so long! Almost a week! Marius is great though! We have had some good times and some sad times, but we all know he is a fighter so he pulled through. He is getting a lot more vocal and loves saying our names ☺.

Things have been going great at the hospital for the last few days and Marius has been in a really good mood. Last week Marius' cousin, Alina, told him that he was accepted into the organization in America, and he was really excited. Later on that day Alina asked Marius if he wanted to go to America to get treatment or if he wanted to stay in Romania with his aunt, and he said he wanted to go to America. We were so happy to hear that :) Alina told us that Marius has been telling the moms in his room that he will go to America and that he will get a new nose and some new hands.