Daniel Fleetwood, the terminally ill Star Wars fan who recently had the pleasure of enjoying ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ has passed away. His wife Ashley announced the sad news that at the far too young of an age of 32 that Daniel had lost his battle with cancer. Ashley was the one who created the #ForceForDaniel social media campaign which would allow him his last wish when she and her husband found out in July that he would only have two months to live.
According to her, “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. He will always be my idol and my hero.”
While the ending to his story is sad we know that not only is Daniel no longer in pain but he had been able to see the next film in the franchise that had meant the world for him. His wife was able to create something amazing with the #ForceForDaniel campaign and was able to capture the attention of the likes of Mark Hamill and John Boyega who helped convince J.J. Abrams to allow this fan the ability to see the movie. Even with her loss I’m sure that a part of her is happy that she was able to help grant him this last request. This is a gesture by Abrams and Disney which truly shows how much joy can be brought into the world by seemingly simple gestures.
Last Thursday the couple were able to watch an unedited version of the film and even had a chance to speak with J.J. Abrams about it. Hopefully he was able to clue Daniel in a little bit about things to come as well.
RIP Daniel, and may the Force be with you.
Sources: Entertainment Weekly.
