The Star Wars fan who lobbied to see the latest film in the franchise early after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer was granted his wish on Thursday.
Daniel Fleetwood was diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma in July and feared he wouldn't live long enough to see the latest iteration of his favorite movie franchise: Star Wars. That's why friends and family launched a social media campaign to give Daniel an advanced showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The campaign was widely embraced by other Star Wars fans and even Star Wars actors. On Thursday Daniel's dying wish was granted, and he was able to screen the movie.
"To all our wonderful supporters, friends, family, and awesome strangers," Daniel's wife Ashley Fleetwood said in a Facebook post yesterday. "Daniel's final dream was just granted!!! Today the wonderful Disney and Lucasfilms made his final dream come true, in the amazing typical Disney way, they really do make dreams come true!"
"Daniel just finished watching an unedited version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!!"
Ashley said that The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams even called Daniel personally. "We would like to thank the awesomely talented J.J. Abrams for calling us yesterday to tell us Daniel was getting his wish granted," she said.
She also requested in another Facebook post that media stop calling them so she could spend more time with Daniel and less time speaking to the press. "I would like to thank everyone but at the same time, I please request no more phone calls from news stations," Ashley said. "It is far too overwhelming and I don't want to spend my time on the phone and not with Daniel."
"Lastly I want to thank ALL the amazing people who helped make this happen, thank you beyond words!!! May the force be with you all smile emoticon #forcefordaniel!!!!"