‘Tis the season for giving, and this story may take the cake. Three days ago, a thread on Reddit’s Star Trek board popped up, and shot straight to the top. The content was essentially an open plea to director J.J. Abrams about a terminally ill cancer patient who wanted nothing more than to see just a piece of Abrams’ upcoming film, Star Trek Into Darkness:
Hello Reddit. I’ve seen some amazingly kind and generous stuff happen on here. I’m hoping there’s room for another amazing act of generosity and kindness for a friend of mine who is really sick. I couldn’t begin to put into words what he has gone through. Luckily his wife did it for me… “My amazing healthy film buff husband diagnosed with leukemia (CML) at 38 had to endure 3 rounds of chemo before they found a bone marrow donor match had a Bone Marrow Transplant, which was MORE chemo, full body radiation & lots of other horrific things….then endured/survived 3 major infections + a massive GI bleed that put him in the hospital 10+ times over 3 1/2 years not to mention 100’s of doctors visits…. he is my hero; I am his caregiver – I would do anything to help him…. he is now ravaged by a new TOTALLY UNRELATED cancer, (isn’t that a fucker?) an aggressive and EXTREMELY rare vascular tumor that is crowding out his healthy liver tissue… they grew under treatment; there is nothing left to do but make him comfortable, at 41, he is jaundice & his liver is enlarged, his body has had enough, he has weeks to live, He was hospitalized and had to exchange our HOBBITT tickets (where the 10 min Star Trek preview was supposed to be shown) we were able to put him in a car and get over to the HOBBITT but NO PREVIEW???? we, his friends and family, the love of my life – WOULD LOVE him to be able to see the Star Trek movie but even the 10 minutes of the trailer would be AMAZING.” If there is anything any one of you or anyone you know could do to make this happen that would be an amazing, kind and generous thing. Please help. Thanks.
TLDR; My friend is dying. Would like to see the new Star Trek movie. Please help. At the least, upvote to get to front page for someone else to see. Please.
Naturally, the skeptics chimed in, but a friend of the terminally ill man, Redditor GradyHendrix, shot down the naysayers by corroborating the story:
I just wanted to say that I know and work with Dan (the guy who’s dying) but I don’t know the OP. Dan’s been running the New York Asian Film Festival with me and a few other guys for years. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of all of this, I use my actual name as my Reddit name, and you can visit the NYAFF (New York Asian Film Festival) page on Facebook. If you still have doubts that are keeping you from helping, feel free to email me: grady@gradyhendrix.com
I totally understand that you shouldn’t believe everything you read online and I completely get your hesitation, and I don’t blame you AT ALL for feeling that something like this may not be legit. But I want to reassure you that Dan is a real person who’s really dying, and everyone who knows him is devastated.
The story was picked up by various Internet outlets, including MTV and Giant Freakin’ Robot, in hopes of getting the message to Abrams and Paramount Studios. Message delivered, apparently, as Mr. Hendrix followed up with this heart-warming update:
Thanks everyone, and a huge thanks to OP ideeyut for posting this. JJ Abrams just called Dan’s wife and left a message. He’s going to try to arrange a screening for Dan, either of the film or at least of the 9 minute promo reel.
I’ll never say anything bad about JJ Abrams again. Seriously. He is now beyond reproach as far as I’m concerned.
What we don’t know is if Dan will get to see the ten-minute preview or the (likely not-quite-finished) full-length film, but Abrams coming through with either one is a victory for humanity.
[io9]
