Superior Court Judge Carl Fox hosted a “UNC Heroes” fundraising event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Sunday, April 24 in Carrboro, NC. Judge Fox was appointed as the first black District Attorney in North Carolina in 1984 and became Senior Superior Court Judge in 2005. He was diagnosed in 2015 with a type of blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome.
By Kristen Hendrickson, UNC Department of Medicine News
Judge Fox’s oncologist is UNC’s Joshua Zeidner, MD, who is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Fox and his partner Julia Kemp Smith praised Dr. Zeidner and his care team on their fundraising page for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
They noted that the “outstanding care and support provided by Dr. Zeidner and the entire team at UNC’s Lineberger Cancer Hospital were instrumental in the success Carl has had fighting this disease.”
Judge Fox has used social media and his Facebook group,“Save the Fox,” to raise awareness of blood cancers and the need for more African Americans to join the bone marrow registry.
Since bone marrow transplants depend on a match between donor and patient, matches are more likely to occur among those who share the same race or ethnicity. Only 7 percent of bone marrow donor registrants are African American, according to the National Marrow Donor Program, which makes getting a bone marrow match difficult for this population.
“The more people who get on this registry, the better,” Judge Fox told WRAL. “Even if they aren’t an exact match for me, they may be for someone else.”
Judge Fox reported to WRAL that he did undergo a stem cell transplant in the fall of 2015 and that he is getting progressively better.
Dr. Zeidner is in the running for the top fundraiser for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; the top fundraising male and female will be named “Man and Woman of the Year.” The fundraising campaign ends on April 30. Donations received will support LLS research, patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services.