Please come to the rescue of a Star Trek fan.
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 f&*!er?) 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.
A couple things led me to believe this was legit as these folks aren’t asking for money or anything outlandish but simply the opportunity to see a trailer – yes the mention of seeing the film before it opens is there but even the trailer will suffice. Add into this the plea was made through the Reddit Star Trek forum and not somewhere else, which might have received heavier play. Lastly, people are coming forward (using their own names and email addresses) to vouch for Dan, his wife, and their plight. It turns out this gentleman has been involved in New York film festivals for some time, spreading the joy of movies to the masses.
I can happily say this message started getting out through Facebook, Twitter, and major sites like MTVGeek and earlier today JJ Abrams was in contact with the family to arrange a screening. I’ll guess it’s not the completed film, since post production is still in process, but as terrible as this man’s situation is you have to smile just a little knowing complete strangers took a bit of time out of their busy lives to help make someone’s dying wish a reality.
Well there’s a bittersweet ending to the story of Daniel Croft, as I ran across this on Geek Tyrant, his wife wrote:
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…However; Daniel ‘hates’ being an ‘inspiring cancer story’ we his friends and loved ones would prefer for the update to have more of a heartfelt message of giving, especially during this season:
This is a story of us giving something to him, the ‘internet’ community giving something to him and ultimately being a heartwarming gift to our friends, family and so many others. This story of us (and of course JJ Abrams & Bad Robot) being able to give this surprise gift of a screening to a huge movie buff like Daniel, especially a film made by a film maker who obviously makes movies with such care, with a fan like Daniel in mind (and a person like me who knows slightly less about these things). Also, it was truly amazing that a film-maker so secretive as JJ Abrams was kind enough to show this to us.
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 to him. So this gesture really has brought a lot of smiles all around.
It was a wonderful thing to see with Daniel and a wonderful thing to see Daniel enjoy — Making someone as ill as he is smile for any length of time really makes a difference. (At this point making me smile is good too)
This is also so poignant as JJ Abrams took so much care in the first Star Trek movie to at least TRY to get everything ‘right’ for the fans and we were so touched when he was concerned that we wouldn’t 100% enjoy the screening as it’s still being worked on…….Be assured we enjoyed it 110%! We are so grateful thank you, thank you, thank you…
Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say Daniel passed away a couple of nights ago on the 5th. Daniel was 42 years old and a longtime supporter of Subway Cinema and the New York Asian Film Festival.