Bridgeport's Brazilian community is calling it "a Christmas miracle" after a man with a rare disease finally came home from the hospital, thanks to a successful surgery at UCONN.

"We are so grateful, we are so happy. This is the best Christmas of our lives," said wife Luana Tormin.

Parishioners at the Free Methodist Church on the South End of Bridgeport came together on Monday to celebrate Rafael Acevedo.

Acevedo suffers from tympanic plexus neuralgia and recently underwent surgery at UCONN. He traveled to Connecticut from Brazil after hearing about the improved quality of health care.

He says, for the first time, he’s feeling relief from the crippling pain he's been suffering with for more than a decade.

Tormin says the $76,000 surgery was made possible by small donations from News 12 Connecticut viewers and people across the state.

"There are a lot of good people in this world," said Acevedo.

Acevedo says he now has a real chance to get back up in the sky.

He plans to resume his flight school training after he makes a full recovery.

Doctors said it will take months for him to recover, but for the first time he will be pain-free.