A terminally ill Star Wars fan, who has been given just a few months to live, was granted his wish to see the new The Force Awakens film on Thursday, nearly two months before it comes out in cinemas.



The third and final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens reveals familiar and new faces in the JJ Abrams-directed instalment Guardian

Daniel Fleetwood, a 31-year-old Texas man suffering from an aggressive form of cancer that has spread to 90% of his lungs, was able to watch an early cut of the highly anticipated new Star Wars film, due in US theaters on 18 December, his wife Ashley Fleetwood said on Facebook.

“Daniel just finished watching an unfinished version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!! We would like to thank the awesomely talented [director] JJ Abrams for calling us yesterday to tell us Daniel was getting his wish granted!” she wrote.

Daniel Fleetwood’s dying wish to see The Force Awakens went viral on social media in the past week with the hashtag #ForceForDaniel, garnering the support of Star Wars actors Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and newcomer John Boyega.

I just read this and am elated for Daniel & his family! Thanks to the powers-that-be for making his dream come true. https://t.co/ImiAdyBxf8 — Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) November 5, 2015

Hamill tweeted on Thursday that he was “elated” that Fleetwood had been able to see the film.

Fleetwood and his wife have been documenting his health on social media, and in September he posted an update saying he had been given one or two months to live, due to how fast the cancer had spread.

His lungs are now 90% full of tumors. Time is running out. Please @DisneyFR #ForceForDaniel pic.twitter.com/fgUJRy5dvt — Ashley Fleetwood (@pandorashley) November 2, 2015

Disney said on Thursday that the screening for Fleetwood had taken place and that “all involved were happy to be able to make it happen”. The company did not say where the screening took place, but given Fleetwood’s poor health, it is likely to have been at his home.

“If I got to see the movie, I might actually die from happiness,” Fleetwood had earlier told People magazine.

“Growing up, I would watch the movies over and over and analyse every little detail. I hope I get to see what happens.”

The plot of The Force Awakens, the seventh film instalment in George Lucas’s Star Wars universe that will see the return of franchise veterans Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mayhew, has been kept tightly under wraps.

Fans have been given only three brief teaser trailers in the past year.

Presales for the opening of The Force Awakens have already broken US and international records.