A smiling Son Pham only has two surgeries to go. (CBC)After 2½ years and 23 surgeries, a 12-year-old Vietnamese boy living in Halifax is nearing the end of his medical treatment to remove a large growth from his face.

Son Pham is scheduled to head to the Children's Hospital Boston on Sunday, where he will undergo his second-last procedure on Christmas Eve.

"Thanks to so many Nova Scotians, Maritimers, Canadians, this journey will see a happy ending," said Olwyn Walter, Son's caregiver in Halifax.

'My favourite thing in Canada is to go in the hospital to get my treatment'—Vietnamese orphan Son Pham

Son was discovered at a Vietnamese orphanage by the Children's Bridge Foundation, a charity based in Ottawa.

It raised $750,000 to bring Son to North America to give him a chance at a normal life by removing his sponge-like facial tumour.

So far, the football-sized growth has shrunk by 70 per cent, Walter said.

Caregiver Olwyn Walter is grateful to everyone who made Son's treatment possible. (CBC)But his next operation is expected to be a painful one, which will slow him down, she said.

"Son understands that this Christmas, his third Christmas in Canada, will not be his favourite Christmas of the three of them."

Although Son will be in recovery on Christmas Day, he's still looking forward to the surgery.

"My favourite thing in Canada is to go in the hospital to get my treatment," he said.

"Thank you for they to help me."

The goal is for Son to have his final surgery in January and then move back home to Vietnam in February, in time for the Asian Lunar New Year and his 13th birthday, Walter said.

But it seems Son will always have a bit of Canada in him, now that he's a hockey fan.

"I cheering for Pittsburgh Penguins because Sidney Crosby is in Pittsburgh team," he said.

Son, seen pre-treatment in 2007, suffers from a birthmark that's been growing out of control since he was an infant. (CBC)Crosby's home province is Nova Scotia, Son's home away from home.

John Mulliken, a Boston plastic surgeon with a specialty in vascular anomalies, and a team of specialists agreed to treat Son after he was turned away by Toronto.

Doctors at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who spent four months conducting medical tests and assessing their findings, felt it would be better for Son not to receive any treatment. They said there were risks to the procedure and that the growth — a birthmark that has grown since Son was born — was not life-threatening.

Mulliken disagreed. He believed the growth could eventually encroach on Son's airway or diminish his blood's ability to clot.