Alberta's health minister is standing behind the government's process in making a decision to pay for costly surgeries. The minister is commenting on the process after one Alberta family has so far, failed to receive funding to pay for their disfigured toddler's out-of-country surgery.

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky expresses concern for the young family, but maintains he must follow the province's process in making decisions about paying for surgeries.

"The medical protocols are a scientific guideline situations where people that we know and trust to medical decisions have to be allowed the time to do their thorough and rigorous review. If it were up to the public, we'd fund this without delay," said Zwozdesky.

Little Maddox Flynn and his father are now in New York as Maddox is scheduled to undergo life changing surgery on Friday. The toddler suffers from a lymphatic malformation on his face and requires a surgery that is not available in Canada.

The young couple did write a letter to the province's out-of-country health services committee hoping for help to pay for the $50,000 surgery, but the process is timely and the family did not want to wait until the next available date for surgery.

The family has continued to receive donations from generous citizens to help foot the bill. Maddox's story has compelled people from across the country to reach out and donate to the young family.

As of Wednesday, the family had received more than $135,000 in donations.

There have been many small donations made by generous residents, and then there are some businesses and organizations that have donated in the thousands.

One organization even stepped up and committed to flying Maddox and his dad to and from New York.

Following Friday's surgery, Maddox will also have to go back for a second surgery that's booked for September, which will reconstruct parts of his face.

Now that the donations have exceeded the expectations of the family, they have consulted a lawyer who is now handling the trust fund.

CTV Edmonton's Daryl McIntyre will be in New York on Friday as Maddox undergoes his surgery.

With files from Dez Melenka