A terminally ill Trekkie was given a once-in-a-lifetime gift by film director J.J. Abrams, who set up a private screening of the forthcoming sequel "Star Trek Into Darkness" for the dying man.
As Mashable notes, the 41-year-old cancer patient and Star Trek fan was granted his wish to see the upcoming film after a post by a friend went viral on Reddit.
The Independent writes:
On Christmas Day, a post appeared on the social news website Reddit from a user calling himself “ideeeyut”, who was hoping for an “amazing act of generosity and kindness for a friend of mine who is really sick”.
Ideeeyut’s 41-year-old friend, identified only as “Dan”, was diagnosed with leukaemia three and a half years ago, the post explained, and had endured a bone marrow transplant, full body radiation treatment and more than three rounds of chemotherapy. Recently, a rare and unrelated vascular tumor had been discovered attacking Dan’s liver.
"There is nothing left to do but make him comfortable, at 41, he [has] jaundice & his liver is enlarged, his body has had enough, he has weeks to live," ideeeyut, quoting Dan's wife, wrote in his post. "[W]e, his friends and family…WOULD LOVE him to be able to see the Star Trek movie," the post continued.
The film is not due to appear in theaters till May 2013.
Undaunted, several members of the Reddit community soon stepped up to lend a hand.
As Mashable notes, some redditors attempted to contact Paramount Pictures, while others reached out to friends and family members who had contacts in the film and TV industries.
Eventually, Dan's story was picked up by national news agencies and soon, his plea reached the ears of J.J. Abrams himself.
According to updates to the original Reddit post, Abrams, who directed both the 2009 film "Star Trek" and the upcoming Star Trek sequel, personally called Dan and his wife and offered them the opportunity of a lifetime.
Two days ago, Dan's wife, through ideeeyut, posted an update, saying that her husband had indeed been able to see the film:
Hi everyone, it's Daniel's wife, we are of course sworn to secrecy, BUT we are officially allowed to say we saw it and we enjoyed it IMMENSELY as a film and as a gesture...
It is also so wonderful for his friends & his family to finally hear some good news from us, they know how important film is to Daniel & could not think of a better way to please him. So this gesture really has brought a lot of smiles all around.
After reading the good news, many Redditors were effusive with praise for both Abrams and the Reddit community.
"It's moments like this which remind me why I love this subreddit," wrote user "Deceptitron". "J.J. Abrams earned a few points in my book doing this. I was somewhat shocked he would do this considering how secretive he can be with his work."
According to the Independent, neither Abrams nor Paramount Pictures have commented on the deed.
As the blog Zap2It notes, this is not the first time that Abrams has made magic happen off-screen. In 2008, the director reportedly contacted Randy Pausch, a terminally-ill Carnegie Mellon professor, and offered the Star Trek fan a cameo in his original "Star Trek" film.
Watch the official teaser of "Star Trek Into Darkness" here, and tell us what you think of Dan's story in the comments below: