Kaitlynn's Place

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Maddox Flynn is a two-year-old toddler full of vigor, laughter, and bright curiosity. Sounds much like any other child his age, but Maddox has a severe facial deformity that makes his life very different.




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Maddox has a lymphatic malformation on his face. Doctors in his home country of Canada have been unable to perform a surgery that would remove the growth, due to their lack of ability to perform such a complex procedure. Yet, if left untreated, the lymphatic malformation would continue to worsen and become even more disfiguring with time. Maddox is already thought to be blind in one eye as a result of the lymphatic malformation.

So, Maddox’s father started searching for someone- somewhere that could perform such a surgery. He eventually found Dr. Milton Waner, the co-director of the Vascular Birthmark Institute of New York.

Maddox’s father told Fox News that he knew immediately that Dr. Waner would be the one that could help transform his sons life. The only catch was funding. The cost of Maddox having surgery was beyond the means of the family. However, once the media was alerted of Maddox’s story, the family saw a generosity from Canadians and New Yorker’s that would enable Maddox to have his surgery. All together the donations totaled $175,000.

So, the family packed up and headed to New York for Maddox to have his surgery.
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Dr. Waner, described Maddox’s condition as follows:

“Normally lymph vessels — many call them the gutter system of the body — collect all the extra fluid and take it back to the veins.”  “With lymphatic malformation, the vessels don’t function, and then you get a backup of fluid, and then cells migrate into fluid, fibroid tissue grows in as well. It then becomes a very scarred, fluid-filled mass of tissue. And so this is what we’re attempting to remove.”

Maddox had his surgery Friday, and will return to his Canadian home on May 28th, 2010. He will return for a second surgery in September. Let us remember Maddox in our thoughts and prayers.

To find out more about Maddox’s medical journey, check out the family’s Facebook page and Maddox's Journey Blog

This young man is not only a testament to just how lucky we American's are to have such an advanced medical system, but also proves what a little bit of generosity can accomplish.