The New Brunswick government will fund an experimental cancer treatment for a Cap-Pelé boy suffering from cancer, the province's health minister said on Thursday.

Doctors have said his best chance for Hugo Robichaud, 3, to survive neuroblastoma is to undergo surgery and chemotherapy at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Health Minister Michael Murphy reversed his department's opposition to fund the $430,000 treatment on Thursday.

"I received a medical report from the IWK [children's hospital in Halifax] and a medical report from the treating oncologist pediatrician indicating there was a distinct and reasonable possibility of prolonging life of a substantial nature and a distinct and reasonable possibility of cure under those circumstances," Murphy said.

"It's just another case where we pay for treatment for somebody."

Neuroblastoma is a cancer of the nervous system and is responsible for about 10 per cent of all childhood cancers. It is the most common tumour in babies under one year, according to the James Fund, a Canadian organization raising money to fight neuroblastoma.

The small southeastern New Brunswick coastal community has rallied behind Hugo's fight for this cancer treatment. A group on the social networking site Facebook has garnered more than 7,000 members, many of whom have said they are donating money to help pay for the treatment.

So far more than $300,000 has been raised in the community to help with Hugo's treatment.

Some of the money will be used to help the family travel to New York, but no decision has been made on what to do with the rest.