CANYON LAKE ---- It's been a harrowing four months for his family, but doctors give 7-year-old River Harriman a 90 percent chance of full recovery from a recent brain-stem operation, his mother Stacy Harriman said Monday.

"I am very optimistic he will be in the 90 percent (range), even though he has headaches on and off still," Stacy said Monday.

Doctors at Children's Hospital in San Diego operated on the boy from Canyon Lake on Jan. 30 to shave off part of the bone at the base of his skull where it connects to his spinal column. Waiting at the hospital during the four hours it took doctors to complete the surgery was one of the most excruciating experiences in her life, Stacy said.

"I look back now, and say 'How did I even make it through that?'" Harriman said. "My husband and I just roamed the halls, anxious and scared."

Their ordeal began at a family Christmas party in December, when mom and River's dad, Joe Harriman, suddenly noticed that River wasn't with the other children running around the house. They found him curled up in a ball on his bed, waiting for the pain to go away.

Doctors later diagnosed River with Chiari malformation, a deformity at the base of the skull that produces severe headaches.

When word got out in the community of the boy's condition, support began pouring in from Canyon Lake residents and clubs and organizations from around Southwest County ---- all wanting to help the family. Joe's and Stacy's health insurance policy only covered about 70 percent of the estimated $70,000-plus cost of the operation. Stacy is a hair stylist at a local salon and Joe has a small sign business in Canyon Lake, so they didn't know how they were going to raise the money they needed, she said.

A golf pro at Menifee Lakes Country Club sponsored a fund-raising golf tournament, generating about $10,000 for the surgery, Stacy said. A local Cub Scout troop raised about $600. The Canyon Lake Wakeboard Club chipped in another $1,400. The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Lake Elsinore came up with $1,100 ---- not to mention all of the individual donations the family received, she added.

Four days after his operation, River returned home and Canyon Lake residents then brought dinners to the family every night for the next two weeks, plus loads of video games, movies and books as gifts for River, Stacy said. The outpouring of support from the community was so overwhelming that it reaffirmed her faith in her fellow human beings, she said.

"You see so much emphasis on the bad things ---- the crime, the bad people, war ---- and to have so many people so willing to help made me realize we shouldn't sweat the small stuff," she said.

Joe expressed his gratitude as well, saying that he has participated in fund-raisers and benefits for others on several occasions, but he never thought his family would be the one on the receiving end of other people's generosity.

"That's what communities are for ---- to help each other out, and Canyon Lake is a strong community," he said.

About a month ago, River went back to school at Cottonwood Canyon Middle School. But last week, Stacy said, River began shaking in class and his head started hurting. Paramedics responded and River's doctors decided that the boy will have to stay at home for the time being. A full recovery could take at least a year.

For now, River said he can't practice his favorite activities of handball and karate, but that's OK.

"I still have my TV and all my video games," he said.

For Joe, the last four months have given him a new understanding of what it means to be a father, he said Monday.

"Parenthood really kicks in; you realize how precious (your children) are when you go through something like this and you don't know what is going to happen," Joe said.

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Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or wbennett@californian.com.