Tiny survivor with a big fan club

Last Sunday marked the first time volunteers from Massachusetts General Hospital who had gone to Banda Aceh a month earlier to help tsunami victims finally got to see little Fadhil Rizal fully cured. The 18-month-old was the star of a gathering hosted at Northeastern University by members of the Indonesian community here who had been helping the family since its arrival.

On March 19, Fadhil was flown from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to the United States.

A tsunami survivor, the boy had hurt his head running to escape the water and was being treated for that when the doctor found a benign mass in his abdomen and urged he be taken to the USNS Mercy.

There, MGH emergency doctor Vicki Noble helped arrange for him to be operated on at MGH.

Now, six pounds lighter since the procedure, his belly no longer distended, he is as active as any other boy his age. His parents, Miswar and Mahfud Rizal, expressed their immense gratitude, primarily to the medical staff they described as their ''guiding lights" since their first meeting on USNS Mercy in early March. Also present were Noble and Kristio Wahyono, the New York-based Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia, who helped the family financially so they can rebuild their lives in Indonesia.

At the gathering, Fadhil and his parents were surrounded by bags filled with toys and other gifts. Miswar Rizal, his mother, was almost speechless.

''It is a miracle," she murmured, glancing at those who had come to celebrate her son's journey back to health.

The family is scheduled to return to Indonesia within the next couple of weeks.