Just imagine facing the world like this
a massive growth has left this three-year-old
disfigured a deformity so shocking
people cruelly called him the elephant boy.
People would stop and stare
and quite a few kids that would start crying
and run away from him.
From the day Maddox Flynn was born
it was obvious to his mom Nicole
that something was terribly wrong.
I was terrified.
I didn't know what it was.
The small tumor began growing at an alarming rate.
It blinded his left eye
and distorted his mouth
making speech almost impossible,
doctors didn't know how to treat it.
I was very determined.
I was gonna find a doctor
because throughout the whole world,
there has to be somebody.
Help would come thousands of miles away.
I can help this child.
Looking at a photo
renowned New York vascular surgeon Dr. Milton Waner,
diagnosed Maddox with a lymphatic malformation.
By the time he's four or five,
it could potentially be double the size.
My immediate reaction upon seeing photos
was that I can do something
this was certainly a condition
that we see quite often.
And this is something that I can do,
I can help this child.
We know for certain that it's not a human genome,
it's known as a lymphatic malformation.
These never go away,
as the child gets older,
the lesion, the malformation gets bigger and bigger
and becomes more and more disfiguring.
It would get much bigger than this,
it could get two, three times the size of this.
And not only that,
it's already caused impairment,
it's already potentially caused
blindness in that eye.
He has other problems,
he's unable to articulate because his lip is pulled down.
His movement of his upper lip is restricted.
So apart from disfigurement,
there is also physical disability,
which will get worse.
Maddox was flown from his hometown
in Edmonton in Canada
to New York City's Roosevelt St. Luke's Hospital,
Mike Flynn carried his son to the operating room.
Removing the massive growth
is extremely complicated and took 12 hours of surgery.
Had to reposition his nose
and his lip
and the corner of his mouth.
The difficulty with removing it
is making sure that one gets
as much of it as possible
and leaving as much normal tissue behind,
so that one can reconstruct.
Maddox emerges from the OR
and his parents lays to his bedside,
the sight of their little boy's face,
tears and all has them overcome with emotion.
It is a dream come true.
I started crying and I just held him
and I told him how much I was proud of him
and that he looks beautiful.
Just three months later and still healing.
Take a look at Maddox.
(laughs)
But there are more surgeries to come
today he's undergoing a critical procedure,
to save his eye by removing scar tissue.
Are you ready?
We're gonna fix your eye, good.
Now watch this,
brave Maddox knows just what to do,
bracing himself for the operation.
His transformation is astounding.
The little boy who wants scare people away
is now proudly showing his new face to the world.