Ahad with his parents at Dhaka Shishu Hospital after his surgery.

Ahad from Jamalpur lost his father before his birth and mother during delivery. When none was found to take care of the seven-year-old, another couple came forward to adopt him.

The boy found a new home of rickshaw-van puller Md Nazim Uddin and Ripa Akter who took him to their Charpara Kopikhet residence in Mymensingh city.

The couple amid their financial constraint started raising him and got him admitted to class two in a local government primary school. "We want him to be educated," said Nazim. At one stage, the couple discovered that he had a heart problem.

At that time, the couple had no children. Now, they have two -- Ahad and a five-year-old daughter.

In May last year, when shutdown caused by Covid-19 pandemic began to cripple the financial condition of the country's low- and low-middle class people, the couple fell in severe crisis.

At that time, a group of volunteers found them during their door-to-door distribution of food for the people in need. Then the activists came to know from the couple about Ahad's heart problem.

Two years ago, the couple had taken him to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and National Heart Foundation in Dhaka. But they could not afford the amount required for the treatment, said Nazim Uddin.

Since then Ahad had been left untreated, said the family.

The volunteers led by Ali Yusuf took the charge of Ahad's treatment and made a post on social media urging people to financially support Ahad in June.

People responded well and Tk 2,80,000 was collected within a week and Ahad's treatment started, said Ali, also a poet and printing businessman.

"We were ready for Ahad's treatment in June. As the boy tested coronavirus positive, the process delayed. We took him to Dhaka Shishu Hospital in October and did necessary tests," said Md Ashraf Uddin, another volunteer.

"He was admitted there under Dr Khalifa Mahmud Tarik in December and was operated on on January 4 this year," he said, adding that now he is doing well.

 Now, Ahad has got a new hope to live. The satisfaction is beyond expression, said Nazmul Ahmed Didar, another activist. But the volunteers gave the total credit to those who gave the boy financial support.

Expressing gratitude to the volunteers and those who have come forward with helping hands, an emotion gripped Nazim said they will keep the service in their memories forever.