Edmonton toddler Maddox Flynn was talking to his parents in a recovery room at a New York hospital Monday evening after a five-hour operation to remove a large growth from his face.
Maddox cried out for his parents after being taken into a recovery room at New York's Roosevelt Hospital around 6 p.m. ET.
Maddox, 2, was born with lymphatic cystic hygroma, a rare condition that caused two massive cysts to build up over and under his left eye.
Nicole Champagne, Maddox's mother, said her son is doing well and is recovering after the lengthy surgery.
"He's a little out of it from the pain medications … but in good spirits," she told CTV News Channel from New York.
Champagne added that after Monday's procedure, Maddox's medical hurdles are nearly complete.
"This was the major surgery … he looks amazing. He looks beautiful," she said, adding that the large mass on her child's cheek is now gone.
Despite his young age, in the days and weeks leading up to the surgery, Champagne said that her son knew what the trip to New York meant. Champagne said that the child would grab his swollen cheek in anticipation of the surgery.
It seems that the surgery took place just in time, too, as Maddox was becoming increasingly aware that he looked different from other children his age.
"He was starting to notice," she said. "He's had lots of children cry and run away from him."
After such incidents, Maddox would look to his mother with a look of puzzlement.
The family will stay in the New York area until July 27 so that doctors can monitor Maddox's healing process.
In May, he underwent surgery to remove the growth around his left eye. This time, doctors hoped to remove the mass on Maddox's cheek and in his mouth.
On Monday, during the two-phased procedure, doctors first removed the cheek mass, and then improved the appearance and function of the boy's left eye.
"It's a very delicate surgery," CTV Edmonton's Daryl McIntyre reported from New York a short time after the operation began.
McIntyre said the doctors had to contend with a very large nerve that runs through the face that has several branches.
Mike Flynn, Maddox's father, said Maddox's surgeon, Dr. Milton Waner, has technology no one else is using to cut the cheek open, move the nerves out of the way and cut out the mass without damaging the nerves.
On the eve of his surgery, Maddox spent the weekend enjoying the Big Apple. Edmonton Oiler Gilbert Brule, who was so touched by the boy's story he donated $10,000 to a trust fund, even met up with the family to play a bit of hockey in Central Park.
With a $90,000 price tag, the family was initially unsure how they would pay for the surgeries. But thanks to the generosity of Brule and others, more than $280,000 was raised.
Alberta Health Services announced late last week the province would cover the cost of Monday's surgery, but not the first $50,000 procedure in May.
While the family is appealing the decision, they are glad donations mean Maddox won't have to wait for his second and final procedure.
The family has said that they plan to donate any money left over from the trips to Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton and the clinic where Maddox is having his surgery, Vascular Birthmark Institute of New York (VBINY) at Roosevelt Hospital and Beth Israel Medical Center.
