The news began circulating early last summer that Superior Court Judge Carl Fox had been diagnosed with blood cancer.

That was followed by a period of a lot of unanswered questions and doctor visits.

“My doctor said, ‘Well, I’m transferring you to the Oncology – Hematology Clinic,’” Fox recently told a crowd at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill. “And that’s like when the music goes Dun – Dun – Dun – Dun – Dun, because I knew what oncology meant, and I knew that was not good.”

Fox was speaking at an event in late June to correspond with the Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.

Fox told the crowd that he did not have any matches in the blood donor registry and that the percentage of minorities in the registry was very low.

“You learn those stats real quickly when you’re sick.”

That led to the beginning of the “Save the Fox” campaign, which was aimed at raising awareness for blood cancer and increasing the number of donors in the registry.

“Blood cancer is one of the few times when plain old-ordinary-everyday folks can play as big a role in your life as the best-educated physicians,” Fox said.

Fox said that amid the bone marrow drives being held in his honor, there were still few answers to his predicament. Fox said that led through some scary times last summer.

“Finally, I had a substance infection that nearly killed me, honestly,” Fox said. “Dr. Zeidner told me I’d be lucky to stay alive for three months, and I started getting my affairs in order.

“But in August, I learned from Dr. Shea that they had an umbilical cord match.”

It’s been nearly 10 months since that transplant. And now Fox is prepared to get back to work, back on the bench in Superior Court. Fox said after the event that Monday, July 11, was scheduled to be his first day back.

Amid all of the stories being recounted at that event more than two weeks ago, Fox did have some advice for everyone in attendance.

“I also learned chicken soup doesn’t cure squat,” Fox told the crowd, which was greeted with abundant laughter.

While Fox is getting back to work, the Save the Fox campaign will continue to get more donors registered in hopes of saving more lives.