Director Abrams grants 'Star Trek' fan his dying wish

A terminally ill Star Trek fan has been granted his dying wish by the film's director, JJ Abrams, inset – a private screening of the forthcoming sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.

On Christmas Day, a post appeared on the website Reddit from a user calling himself "ideeyut", who was hoping for an "amazing act of generosity and kindness for a friend of mine who is really sick".

Ideeeyut's 41-year-old friend, identified only as "Dan", was diagnosed with leukaemia three and a half years ago, the post explained, and had endured a bone marrow transplant, full-body radiation treatment and more than three rounds of chemotherapy.

Recently, a rare and unrelated vascular tumour had been discovered in Dan's liver. With just weeks to live, the film buff, who is from New York, wanted nothing more than to see Abrams' hotly anticipated Star Trek movie, which is not due out in the US until mid-May. "Ideeyut" then asked his fellow Redditors to help. The story spread quickly via social media, with users hailing on all frequencies: sharing contact details for the film's studio home, Paramount Pictures, as well as friends and family with connections to the film industry.

A mere two days later, another friend of Dan's posted on the thread to say his wish was being granted by none other than the film's director. "JJ Abrams just called Dan's wife and left a message," revealed Grady Hendrix, a co-founder of the New York Asian Film Festival. "He's going to try to arrange a screening for Dan, either of the film or at least of the nine-minute promo reel. I'll never say anything bad about JJ Abrams again. Seriously. He is now beyond reproach as far as I'm concerned." The following day, a private screening of the near-complete film was organised for Dan.