GARY COLEMAN: MEDICAL MIRACLE

The stuff that National Enquirer dreams are made of: not only does the child star of Diff'rent Strokes command his share of fans, but he has a heart-rending story of congenital kidney disease--from ""differentness"" at an early age (urinating through a surgically-attached pouch rather than through his penis), through a hold-your-breath kidney transplant at the age of five. Now, eight years later, the idea of massive rejection has pretty much been ruled out, though young Coleman will be on immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of his life and will probably never be normal size (puberty--which for him will be delayed four or five years--may help some, but odds are he won't make it past five feet). The Colemans hail from Lima, Ohio, and tell one of those gritty up-from-Southern-rural-poverty stories; both mom and dad steeled themselves to become paraprofessionals in the health field, the former fiercely determined, the latter decidedly ""proud."" Mom started her son in show biz as a way of giving him something to compensate for his lack of physical stature, which was causing all sorts of fights on the school playground. There are extensive nods and bows to Gary's precociousness--to the point where he sometimes sounds too precious--but true fans will gobble up every bit.