Marius Woodward
Benefitting Shriners Hospital for Children
Marius was only 8 years old when a house fire in his native country of Romania took the lives of his parents and burned over 75% of his body, leaving him without fingers or a nose. After many months in the hospital without visitors, two American girls got word of his story and started visiting him almost every day, forming a close friendship and eventually raising money to bring him to America for treatment. A year later, he was adopted by one of the girls’ family. This is a story of miracles. Of optimism. Of chosen family and abundant kindness. And it just might inspire you to do something nice for someone you don’t know.
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Wise Words
“I remember at times, my dad would try to teach me math or school and we’d be up until the middle of the night and he would be trying to teach me, and every time I got an answer wrong, he would hit me and he was drinking, he’d be drinking all day. I would cry and I didn’t like him, but at the same time, he was my dad and he taught me lots of things.” - Marius
“So once I finally figured out after the fire and what really happened, I don’t know the time exactly. I think it would have been a month to two months that I finally realized that I was burned. I was burned over 75% of my body. I lost my fingers and my nose or could have been longer honestly, it could have been three months. Time felt almost irrelevant at that time, it was just super slow and all I could focus on, all I did focus on was just surviving.” - Marius
“You couldn’t blink, is that right?” - Kimi
“Yes, I couldn’t blink and it’s weird to actually go back there and think of those because to me, I felt like everything was still normal, it was just that I was in a weird situation.” - Marius
“I was burned so badly that they would take me in and try to skin graph my legs and skin graph my face and try to save my legs because they had amputated my fingers. But at the time I still didn’t know that I didn’t have fingers or nose.” - Marius
“I remember telling the nurses you’re not going to touch my legs anymore. I’m going to peel them, I’m going to do it and I don’t care if it’s going to take all day, I’m going to do it my way. I remember just barely pulling one bandage at a time and it was just hurting. It felt like I was literally ripping off my skin every bandage and it just hurt so much.” - Marius
“And after a while they finally, the nurses finally brought me a mirror and they held it for me because my hands were burned really badly. So they held it for me and I looked at myself and I was just kind of shocked. I’m like, that’s what I look like now? That’s me, are you sure? And I just kept looking and looking and looking and I saw that my nose was missing, half of my nose was missing. My eyelids were just burned really badly. My face was just red scars healing and after that, I just kept asking them to see the mirror, give me a mirror, I want to see it. I want to look at myself and I kept looking and days probably, or weeks go by and I kept looking at myself and I don’t know, I found myself very fascinating because I looked so different, but I knew that inside I was still me. How can this person look different? But I feel like I’m the same inside.” - Marius
“Yes and I think that’s what I really was doing, at the time I think I was just kind of shocked and scared, but the more I talk, that’s what I was really doing is I was trying to be okay with who I am now and yes, my body or my face does look different, but it’s still me inside. I was still that kid that wanted to have fun.” - Marius
“I looked different, but that’s not who I am, I am a fun and caring kid, I want to have fun and enjoy life.” - Marius
“And they’re like, well, if you want to come to America, you’re going to have to drink, you’re going to have to eat, and you’re going to have to start walking. You’re going to have to do all these things so you’re strong enough to go on a plane and come to America. After they told me that, I think I instantly just started kind of being okay again and having a new goal that, hey, if I drink and I eat and I start walking, then I can go be on a plane and go to America and get surgeries.” - Marius
“Their medical staff and the people there (Shriners) are just super caring, loving, always want the best for the person that they’re with. And again, I’ve never been to another hospital or any other place that is like that.” - Marius
“So over time, I’ve kind of learned that if I see someone staring I would walk up to them and say, how’s it going? My name is Marius, and then do you want to know something crazy? I’ve got toes on my hands.” - Marius
“People look at you because they just want to know more about you. They haven’t seen anyone like that before. Not just because they’re being mean, it’s because they’re curious and I’ve caught myself a few times that I’ve looked at someone and then, later on, I’m like, I should just go up and talk to them and ask how their day’s going, and see what happens.” - Marius
“Everybody is good, everybody is trying to be good and you can only get better. The more you try and the harder you try, the better you can get at it.” - Marius
“I realized that there’s a lot of great people out there that are willing to help someone they don’t even know.” - Marius
“I think of where I was and that I could have been dead, and I’m glad to be alive and I should treat everybody that they are someone that they do matter, and they have a purpose here.” - Marius
“My biggest goal is to never judge anybody, just to get to know the person that is inside.” - Marius
“My gratitude comes from hitting rock bottom and realizing that there are a lot more people out there that are helping, that are good.” - Marius
“I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned through life, through surgeries, through the pain I’ve gone, is to never give up. There’s something better out the other end, you just have to keep going, to fight through the bad and there will be good.” - Marius
Links
Website: teammarius.org
Instagram: @teammarius1
Tik Tok: @1shortstory
Charity: Shriners Hospital for Children