"It couldn't have gone better," he later says. "Absolute best solution. "

A promising future?

Children are resilient, so Okkhoy's recovery is quick.

He is discharged from the hospital less than a week after the surgery, but needs to remain in the area for three more weeks so doctors can monitor him for infections.

He is restricted from physical activity -- which means, he can't kick his beloved soccer ball around.

That leaves Okkhoy without an excuse when Khan sits him down to tutor him from a picture book of alphabets.

"A. B. C. D," Khan points to the letters and reads aloud.

"A, B, Chi ...," Okkhoy repeats.

"Not Chi. Say 'C,'" she corrects him.

Khan wants Okkhoy to be the first person in his family to get an education.

"The dream I have for him is that he grows up and devotes his life to the service of people," she says. "That he sees to it that no one goes through what he went through."

It is a dream Kovach and his wife share as well. The two want to set up a fund to help make Okkhoy's schooling possible.

Before he leaves Baltimore, Okkhoy is asked again what he wants to be when he grows up.

Until now, his answer had been the same: a member of the Rapid Action Battalion to avenge his attack.

Not this time.

"I want to become a doctor," he says without missing a beat, "because I want to save people.

"And when I do, I won't take any money from them."

A hospital staffer suggests that perhaps one day Okkhoy could come work as a surgeon at Johns Hopkins.

"Wouldn't that be a miracle?" she says.

"This story is full of miracles," Okkhoy's father responds.

Who's to say there won't be another one?