The Nation - News from Dec. 13, 1987

Doctors said that Alvaro Garza Jr., the 11-year-old boy who nearly died when he fell into an icy river and was submerged 45 minutes, should be home from the hospital by Christmas. The fifth grader from Moorhead, Minn., spent about 15 minutes at a holiday party thrown by the pediatrics staff at St. Luke’s Hospital, said Kathy Borge of the hospital in Fargo, N.D. The boy was clinically dead when he was pulled from the Red River on Dec. 4, after falling through thin ice while playing with friends. Doctors said he has not yet healed enough for them to be sure he suffered no permanent neurological damage. Meanwhile, he has received about $15,100 in donations from well-wishers and more than 1,000 pieces of mail.