A New Face for Maddox

On Monday, the 2-and-a-half-year-old from Edmonton, Canada underwent a nearly 5-hour surgery at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City to remove the last piece of a massive tumor.  And the results were exactly what his parents had hoped for. "He looks beautiful," his mom, Nicole Champagne, said with tears in her eyes. "It's overwhelming. Maddox looks beautiful and I'm just grateful."

Lymphatic malformation is an extremely disfiguring condition and if left untreated, it will get worse and worse as time progresses.

Maddox's story has won the hearts of people all over Canada who have generously donated money to help with his treatments. To date, more than $250,000 has been raised. “I'm overwhelmed,” Champagne said. “There have been so many people throughout Canada, throughout the States and even Europe that have helped out. It's Maddox. He just grabs everybody's heart.”

Maddox's parents, Mike Flynn and Nicole Champagne, talked to the media shortly before the surgery was scheduled to get underway. Understandably, it was a very emotional time for both of them. “Words can't explain it, Flynn said. “He's going to be able to talk, he's going to be able to close his mouth now, look normal, and not be teased and run away from.”  

Dr. Milton Waner, the co-director of the Vascular Birthmark Institute of New York at Roosevelt Hospital, is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of hemangiomas and vascular malformations — making him the ideal doctor to take on Maddox’s case. The toddler's family calls him their "angel."

Maddox is held by his grandmother, Pat Champagne, shorty before the surgery. She has read more than 30,000 emails from people all over the world looking to help her grandson.  

Maddox was a bit shy when we first met him. But after he got settled, he was giggling, playing with crayons and hamming it up for the camera. He happily posed for this shot for FoxNews.com. Seconds after we snapped the picture he asked to see his face on the digital camera.     

One reason the surgery was such a success was due in part to a one-of-a-kind technology that allowed Waner and his team to locate and preserve the main facial nerve, which was right in the middle of the malformation. “Sometimes it's impossible to find these nerves,” he said. “But now we have a specialized electrophysiological team who do work that is quite unique. It’s not done anywhere else. They're able to map the nerves and then they monitor them intraoperatively.”

Waner was also able to reposition Maddox’s nose and shorten the distance between his eye and his lip. “His face is much more symmetrical, and all of the nerves that were present before seem to be functioning very nicely,” he said. “Maddox seems to be in very good shape and I am very happy with the way things went.”

Maddox, who was running around and eating chicken nuggets less than 24 hours after his surgery, was expected to be discharged from the hospital Tuesday afternoon. He and his family will stay in New York City for the next week to enjoy the sights.  In six to eight weeks, he will have another follow up with Dr. Waner to assess his progress. And then after that - the sky is the limit. “After two-and-a-half years - this is it," Flynn said. "You know, I heard one more touch-up procedure, but other than that, this is a dream come true."