LANETT — Maddox Cannon recently turned four years old. A native to the Greater Valley Area, Maddox is like any other four-year-old from around here.

What sets him apart, though, are his unfortunate medical conditions. Maddox has been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, septo-optic dysplasia, epilepsy and hydrocephalus — a condition involving an accumulation of fluid in the brain.

These conditions require Maddox to have a service dog to help him in his day-to-day activities, and service dog training costs a sizeable amount of money. Chambers County native Scott Willingham had an idea to help alleviate the cost to Maddox’s family.

“The Lord spoke to me and said I had to help this boy,” Willingham said. “We decided to have a fundraiser for Maddox and everything we bring in is going to him”

The fundraiser will be in the form of a car show this Saturday, June 9, with cars seen in “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Smokey and the Bandit” making appearances among local cars that people wanting to help the cause can enter.

An entry fee of $20 will be asked of all who participate, and there are no requirements to do so. There will be prizes for first place cars, first place trucks, first place motorcycle and the people’s choice overall. The judge for the first place winners: Maddox himself. 

“We are going to get Maddox to pick the cars that he likes to be the winners,” Willingham said. “That way there won’t be any cheating.”

Willingham encourages everyone to come out and enter their car for the cause, no matter the make, model or condition.

“We don’t care if they’ve got a Yugo, if they want to enter it and that little boy picks it, they go home with a trophy,” Willingham said. “It doesn’t have to be a collector car or anything fancy, they can bring their own personal car as far as I’m concerned.”

Door prizes will be given out, an ice cream truck will be there and Chambers County Sheriff Sid Lockhart will be cooking for the masses.

The event will be in the parking lot beside El Rio Grande at 202 S. Gilmer Avenue in Lanett, Saturday, June 9. It will go from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Eastern time. Willingham invites everyone to come and support Maddox’s cause.

“It’s a community thing, it’s not about me,” he said. “It’s something I felt like I was told to do. The money is going for the service dog and we need all the help we can get.”