By Rudie Obias | 8 years ago

When a Star Trek fan’s dying wish to watch the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness before its May 2013 release date surfaced on Reddit, the Internet worked fast to get the attention of J.J. Abrams. Over the past few days, there were numerous blog posts, tweets, and Facebook updates about this Star Trek fan’s plea. Well, it worked! J.J. Abrams has granted a terminally ill cancer patient’s dying wish to watch the Star Trek sequel early.

A few weeks ago, a 41-year-old terminally ill man from New York tried to catch a preview screening of the first nine minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness before IMAX screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Unfortunately, the theater was not one of those that were featuring the preview screening. The man later tried to catch the preview at a different theater but instead was taken to the hospital where he was told he only had two months to live.

While Star Trek Into Darkness doesn’t come out for another five months, the Star Trek fan’s wife took his plea to Reddit where it got the attention of J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot. Abrams personally got in contact with the man’s family and is currently trying to put together a private screening of Star trek Into Darkness. Of course, the film isn’t completed so the fan will be watching a “rough version” of the movie.

This isn’t the first time J.J. Abrams extended a helping hand to a dying Star Trek fan. In 2008, Abrams reached out to Professor Randy Pausch – author of the inspirational book “The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” – and offered him a small role in the reboot Star Trek. Pausch was flown to Los Angeles and was featured in Star Trek as a crewmember of the USS Kelvin. Sadly, Pausch died a few months later and was unable to watch the final version of Star Trek. Watch the video of his cameo from Star Trek below.

Considering all the mystery around Star Trek Into Darkness, J.J. Abrams must be commended for his charity and affection for all Star Trek fans.

Star Trek Into Darkness will hit theaters everywhere on May 17th 2013.