2 BYU students working to aid Romanian boy

There are two things a house fire couldn't take away from 9-year-old Marius Vasile Dasianu — his beautiful eyes and his charming temperament.

The young Romanian boy awoke one night last November to find his home and himself engulfed in flames. Marius mustered strength to fight through the searing pain and escape through a window, but his parents didn't make it out of the house.

In one night, the blaze took Marius' parents and home and left him with burns over 75 percent of his body. Doctors later had to amputate his fingers because of the extensive damage.

For all of this, Marius still possessed distinct features: his eyes, his deep ocean blue eyes, and his kind temperament. And it was these two characteristics that prompted Brigham Young University students Ashley Ludlow and Jessica Free to find a way to help the boy, who used to resemble Dennis the Menace — minus the back-pocket slingshot — when they met him in St. Maria's Children's Hospital in Iasi, Romania.

Now, with the help of friends and family, Ludlow, who is from San Diego, Calif., and Free, of Mesa, Ariz., are organizing a charity auction in Spanish Fork to bring Marius to the United States for reconstructive surgery. The two have secured funding for the boy's airfare and medical bills. But they still need help raising funds to cover other expenses such as translator fees, travel costs and housing.

Items from local restaurants, movie theaters, retail shops and tanning salons will be auctioned Saturday night to cover those expenses.

Ludlow and Free said they couldn't leave Romania and forget Marius.

"There's no possible way we could have ignored (him)," Ludlow said.

Ludlow and Free, both 20, met Marius on his birthday, Jan. 28, when they were in the country completing internships for BYU's School of Family Life. The two students were with a group who threw a surprise party, complete with balloons, for the boy in the hospital.

"I remember see his face and being surprised," Free said. "These bright blue eyes were just staring from a burned little face and it really touched me."

Marius, who rarely had visitors because his brother could only see him once every other week, smiled as the girls sang "Happy Birthday" in Romanian.

After the party, thoughts of Marius' eyes and cheery disposition lingered with the two students for a week until they finally broached a subject weighing on both their minds.

"I wish we could bring him to America for treatment," Free said.

"I had the exact same thought," Ludlow said.

So the two went to work.