Fox (left) and Robbins (right) after the successful transplant that saved Fox’s life.
Corey Fox is someone that the members of Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees and The Moth and The Flame all have in common. He’s the owner of Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo, Utah – a place that helped all three bands get their start.
When the band members heard that Fox had chronic kidney failure and was desperately in need of a new donor, they decided that they wanted to ‘pay it forward’ and do what they could to help the man who had already helped all of them.
Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees and The Moth and The Flame all took time off from their tours in order to hold a benefit concert for Fox back in April 2016. The funds raised went to help with the costs of the transplant and the costs of running Velour Music Gallery while Fox was in the hospital.
Fox got his donor, and it turned out to be Brandon Robbins, a member of The Moth and The Flame. Robbins now refers to Fox as his “blood brother”, which they definitely are after the successful transplant took place in December 2016. Fox couldn’t be more pleased with his donor and has called the bands that play at Velour his family.
Originally diagnosed with kidney disease at the age of 15, Fox went into chronic kidney failure in 2013. Doctors told him that he would need a transplant when they learned that his kidneys were only functioning at 14 percent. In 2015 they were only functioning at 9 percent.
Fox was surprised to hear that bands he has worked with at Velour were going to take time off from their tours in order to participate in the #FixtheFox campaign to help support him. Even though he’d always thought of the bands who performed at Velour as a family, the thought that they were doing this for him was overwhelming.
The original person that doctors thought was a match was rejected at the last minute. Fox said he started to think about mortality at this point since it seemed that finding a donor was getting harder and harder. Robbins heard that the donor had been rejected and felt that he needed to get tested, despite thinking that he was the wrong blood type.
Brandon Robbins from The Moth and The Flame (left) and Corey Fox (right), owner of Velour Music Gallery, embrace at the hospital.
As fate would have it, Robbins turned out to be a perfect match. The transplant was successful and an emotional, slightly surreal experience for both men. Robbins said that the emotions from the experience have had an impact on the new The Moth and The Flame album he’s been working on.
Fox said he is looking forward to hearing the album. He knows the emotions all too well and is sure that the new album will be beautiful and be moving as a result.
