a massive growth has left this three-year-old 3

disfigured a deformity so shocking 4

people cruelly called him the elephant boy. 5

People would stop and stare 6

and quite a few kids that would start crying 7

and run away from him. 8

From the day Maddox Flynn was born 9

it was obvious to his mom Nicole 10

that something was terribly wrong. 11

I was terrified. 12

I didn't know what it was. 13

The small tumor began growing at an alarming rate. 14

It blinded his left eye 15

and distorted his mouth 16

making speech almost impossible, 17

doctors didn't know how to treat it. 18

I was very determined. 19

I was gonna find a doctor 20

because throughout the whole world, 21

there has to be somebody. 22

Help would come thousands of miles away. 23

I can help this child. 24

Looking at a photo 25

renowned New York vascular surgeon Dr. Milton Waner, 26

diagnosed Maddox with a lymphatic malformation. 27

By the time he's four or five, 28

it could potentially be double the size. 29

My immediate reaction upon seeing photos 30

was that I can do something 31

this was certainly a condition 32

that we see quite often. 33

And this is something that I can do, 34

I can help this child. 35

We know for certain that it's not a human genome, 36

it's known as a lymphatic malformation. 37

These never go away, 38

as the child gets older, 39

the lesion, the malformation gets bigger and bigger 40

and becomes more and more disfiguring. 41

It would get much bigger than this, 42

it could get two, three times the size of this. 43

And not only that, 44

it's already caused impairment, 45

it's already potentially caused 46

blindness in that eye. 47

He has other problems, 48

he's unable to articulate because his lip is pulled down. 49

His movement of his upper lip is restricted. 50

So apart from disfigurement, 51

there is also physical disability, 52

which will get worse. 53

Maddox was flown from his hometown 54

in Edmonton in Canada 55

to New York City's Roosevelt St. Luke's Hospital, 56

Mike Flynn carried his son to the operating room. 57

Removing the massive growth 58

is extremely complicated and took 12 hours of surgery. 59

Had to reposition his nose 60

and his lip 61

and the corner of his mouth. 62

The difficulty with removing it 63

is making sure that one gets 64

as much of it as possible 65

and leaving as much normal tissue behind, 66

so that one can reconstruct. 67

Maddox emerges from the OR 68

and his parents lays to his bedside, 69

the sight of their little boy's face, 70

tears and all has them overcome with emotion. 71

It is a dream come true. 72

I started crying and I just held him 73

and I told him how much I was proud of him 74

and that he looks beautiful. 75

Just three months later and still healing. 76

Take a look at Maddox. 77

(laughs) 78

But there are more surgeries to come 79

today he's undergoing a critical procedure, 80

to save his eye by removing scar tissue. 81

Are you ready? 82

We're gonna fix your eye, good. 83

Now watch this, 84

brave Maddox knows just what to do, 85

bracing himself for the operation. 86

His transformation is astounding. 87

The little boy who wants scare people away 88

is now proudly showing his new face to the world.