WASHINGTON — A 9-year-old boy who nicknamed his brain tumor "Frank" — that's short for Frankenstein — is celebrating the intruder's departure.

"Frank is now dead and gone and never to return," David Dingman-Grover said yesterday. He was wearing a black T-shirt that read, "Cancer is not who I am."

Frank the Tumor gained national attention when David's mother, Tiffini, created "Frank Must Die" bumper stickers, which the family auctioned on eBay to defray the costs of surgery.

Biopsy results announced yesterday showed no remaining active cancer cells.

When the boy from Sterling, Va., was diagnosed with a grapefruit-size tumor in 2003, the family was told its size and location made it difficult — perhaps impossible — to remove.

Doctors used chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor to the size of a peach pit. That alleviated David's headaches and temporary blindness, but doctors still needed to remove the tumor.

Traditional brain surgery, called craniotomy, involves cutting through the patient's face and skull. The parents agreed to the operation, but it never occurred because it was too risky; the tumor was surrounded by three arteries supplying blood to the brain.

David's mother used the Internet to find out about an alternative procedure.

Dr. Hrayr Shahinian of the Skull Base Institute in Los Angeles used fiber-optic instruments to remove the tumor through David's nose in a 1-1/2-hour operation Feb. 2 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

"David would have most likely died if we had done the surgery the other way," his mother said. "I'm just so grateful that I have the chance to continue to be David's mother."

David will be 10 on March 1 and said he had no doubts he would see this birthday.

"I knew the Lord would guide me through this," he said. "I'm very happy. I just want to go home and live a normal life again."

The surgeon did not charge for the procedure, which normally would cost about $100,000, including hospital fees and anesthesiologists. The family has donated $20,000 it received via eBay to a charity to help other children with cancer.