BOY'S PAINTINGS RAISE MONEY FOR HIS CANCER TREATMENT

By Jennifer Hewlett

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Maddox Johnson's art career has taken off.

Since October, the 7-year-old Union boy's artwork has fetched about $5,000 at auction on eBay. The money from the sale of the 30 or so paintings and drawings is being used to help pay Maddox's medical expenses. He's been fighting cancer for more than a year.

Earlier this week, the online casino GoldenPalace.com, known for buying things such as William Shatner's kidney stone and a grilled cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary toasted onto it, purchased 11 of the boy's art pieces for more than $2,800. Singer Ronnie McDowell bought a Maddox Johnson painting of flowers in a vase for $1,000 several weeks ago.

"I got to tell you, I think it's pretty talented for a 7-year-old boy," said GoldenPalace.com spokesman Jeff Kay, whose company paid more than $1,000 for one of Maddox's paintings.

"I hope Maddox sells millions more and becomes another Picasso," McDowell said.

Maddox, who paints things like flowers, palm trees and fruit and pictures with patriotic and religious themes, put up 13 more pictures for sale on eBay Wednesday. It's his fourth auction and ends Tuesday. At press time, one bidder had offered $1,000 for one of the paintings; the others were each going for at least $100.

"We've just been so overwhelmed with the generosity of strangers that don't have any connection to us at all," said Maddox's mother, Tenille Johnson.

Maddox and his family also have been overwhelmed by media attention.

The syndicated news show Geraldo at Large did a segment on him and his art that aired Wednesday night.

"He's a tough little guy. It's a unique way to finance the very expensive cost of health care," said reporter Phil Keating, who interviewed Maddox and his family for the show.

Keating said in an interview with the Herald-Leader that Maddox's story is a "great, warm, feel-good story."

Maddox's cancer has been in remission since August, but the boy still has about a year's worth of treatments to undergo to help ensure that the cancer does not return, said his father, Micky Johnson. Once a week, Maddox has to get a painful chemotherapy shot in the upper thigh.

"You wouldn't believe how big that needle is," Micky Johnson said. "Sometimes you can tell it's all he can do to keep from crying. He definitely doesn't look forward to it."

About three weeks ago, Maddox, whose immune system has been compromised by the cancer treatments, had to have surgery because of a sinus infection.

Maddox's health insurance does not cover all of his medical bills, so he and his parents came up with the idea of selling his art to help pay some of those out-of-pocket costs. From March 2005, when Maddox was first diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, until March, the Johnson family had about $10,000 in medical expenses not covered by insurance, Micky Johnson said.

The office of filmmaker Michael Moore, who made the movies Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, contacted the Johnsons about a possible documentary on the health care system, but Tenille Johnson said the family was not interested in a political debate.

"I'm just trying to walk through this journey with the best attitude I can," she said.

Ronnie McDowell, who has helped ill and needy children for 30 years, has invited Maddox and his parents to a performance he is giving in August at Renfro Valley.

McDowell, who also paints, plans on presenting the boy with a print of one of his paintings. He has the painting he bought from Maddox hanging in his office.

"I think that his efforts are just unbelievable," McDowell said. "I hope that lots of people buy his paintings, because there is beauty in those paintings."

When asked what he thought about the attention he was getting, Maddox, in one of his typical one-word responses, said it was "cool."

"It's making life interesting, at least. It's keeping us not focused on the negative," his mother said.

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7-year-old's art on eBay bought by Internet casino

He was selling his work to help his parents pay for his medical treatment.

What does Maddox Johnson -- a former St. Augustine boy whose eBay art sale to pay for cancer treatments was reported in the Times-Union last month -- have in common with William Shatner, Pete Rose and a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary?

The Lexington-Herald Leader did an article in the Communities Section....it was an excellent article.  It had awesome colored photos, but were not available on the online version. 

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Posted on Wed, Mar. 01, 2006

Crayons that pay

Boy with cancer sells his art to whittle medical bills

By Jennifer Hewlett

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Maddox Johnson is a boy of few words, but he's prolific with paintbrushes and pencils.

The 7-year-old has been putting his artistic talent to practical use, creating pictures to sell on eBay to raise money for his medical expenses.

Pictures of flowers, stars and a "UK" in blue and white (for the University of Kentucky) are among his creations.

So far, he's netted about $700 for about six watercolor paintings and drawings.

Maddox, who lives in Union, which is near Florence, was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma last March.

"There's a really great prognosis," said his mother, Tenille Johnson, referring to the 75 percent cure rate for that type of cancer.

Maddox has undergone more than 30 of a prescribed 108 weekly chemotherapy treatments.

"That was a really hard dose to swallow," his mother said. "That seems like an eternity." But, she said, "Once you get into it, you learn how to deal with it."

Maddox's cancer, which initially extended from his neck to his chest and was present in his abdomen, has shrunk, she said.

The boy's family has health insurance, but it does not cover all of his medical expenses. Maddox had to be hospitalized the entire month of November, and the bill for that hospital stay -- one of several in the last year -- was more than $400,000, Tenille Johnson said. The Johnsons have spent at least $10,000 out of pocket on expenses related to Maddox's illness, she said.

Family decision to raise money

Johnson said the family sat down in October to discuss creative ways to raise money.

Among Maddox's ideas: setting up a lemonade stand or having a family yard sale.

The family settled on selling the boy's art on the Internet. The first batch of Maddox's pictures were sold in October.

People from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky can now say they own a Maddox Johnson original.

Buyers included a man who wanted a picture for his mother -- a previous cancer patient -- and a woman who had battled breast cancer.

Alison Wielichowski, Maddox's teacher at Erpenbeck Elementary School in Florence, bought one for her father.

"I bid on a camouflage star mounted on black construction paper," she said. Her winning bid was $57.

"My dad now has it hanging in his house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," she said.

"Maddox is a fantastic painter. We've even been able to paint here in class a couple times. He's particular about his work, but nice and relaxed while doing it," she said.

"I think it was a wonderful idea for him to put his artwork out there for all to see," she said.

The Johnson family is planning to put another batch of Maddox's work up for sale on eBay today.

"We did it that one time and it was just a huge success, so we decided to try it at least one more time," Tenille Johnson said.

By last week, Maddox had six pieces of art ready to sell.

"He loves to draw, loves to paint," his mother said. "It's something he can do. He can't play sports or anything like that right now."

Maddox said he's best at drawing stars. He really likes to paint sunrises, his mother said.

Diagnosis and painful tests

The boy's cancer diagnosis came just 10 days after his family returned to their native Kentucky from St. Augustine, Fla., where his parents were ministers.

Initially, doctors could not put Maddox under anesthesia because a large mass in his chest had pushed his heart and windpipe out of their normal positions. The child had to undergo painful biopsies, spinal taps and bone marrow tests while he was awake, Tenille Johnson said.

Maddox has gotten so used to medical tests and treatments that his mother can't remember the last time he cried.

Maddox's father, Micky Johnson, now works for Averitt Express in Erlanger. Tenille Johnson took a position as a travel agent with AAA in Cincinnati after returning to Kentucky, but had to quit the job to care for Maddox. The couple plan to return to the ministry eventually.

The Sheffield Church of God in Sheffield, Ohio, where Micky and Tenille Johnson were ministers before they moved to Florida, has set up a fund to help with Maddox's expenses.

"We've had some good support from our churches that we attended," Tenille Johnson said. "The loss of income has been huge to our home. You get to the end of the month and you wonder, 'how am I going to do it?'"

Maddox hasn't been able to attend school much because of his cancer. Sometimes a teacher comes to his home to give him lessons.

Science is Maddox's favorite subject in school, he said. He also likes playing T-ball and riding his bicycle. He said he doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up