Star Wars Superfan Dies After Getting Final Wish

Daniel Fleetwood died of a rare cancer after private viewing of 'The Force Awakens'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 10, 2015 10:19 AM CST
Star Wars Superfan Dies After Getting Final Wish
RIP, Daniel.   (Twitter)

Daniel Fleetwood, the Star Wars superfan with a terminal illness whose wish to see an advance screening of The Force Awakens came true last week, has died at the age of 32, Mashable reports. His wife, Ashley Fleetwood, announced the Texas man's death with a Facebook post early Tuesday, in which she shared a final selfie of the two of them and wrote, "Daniel put up an amazing fight to the very end. He is now one with God and with the force. He passed in his sleep and in peace." Daniel's dad confirmed his son's death to NBC News. Daniel's story of his fight with spindle cell sarcoma, how he had been given just two months to live back in July, and how all he wanted was to see the latest Star Wars installation had touched thousands on the Internet, leading to a #ForceForDaniel hashtag and stars like Mark Hamill lobbying for a viewing for Daniel.

Ashley tells NBC that a body scan last week showed 90% of Daniel's lungs were riddled with cancer and that they knew the end was near. Disney and Lucasfilm came through and made his dream come true on Thursday, when Daniel saw an unedited version of the movie, Mashable notes. Twitter is mourning Daniel today using the same #ForceForDaniel tag, with sympathies, RIPs, and users tweeting a poignant pic of Daniel flanked by Alex Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, as played by Hayden Christensen. "Well done to everyone, Disney and JJ [Abrams] for giving him his dying wish," one poster writes. (Peter Mayhew, who plays Chewbacca and was also supporting Daniel, tweeted the same pic.) "He will always be my idol and my hero," Ashley Fleetwood wrote in her Facebook post. (More Star Wars stories.)

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