A terminally ill Avengers fan got to watch an early screening of the upcoming film “Avengers: Endgame” after his emotional appeal got Chris Hemsworth’s attention.
Australia – The 33-year-old Australian fan, known only as Alexander, revealed his dying wish was to get a sneak peek at the final movie as he is battling liver cancer, mouth cancer and bone marrow failure and has just months left to live.
On January 5th, 2019, Redditor “alexander_q” posted on the Marvel Studios subreddit that he would likely die before the premiere of the fourth Avengers film and that he would like to see the film before that happens.
Alexander suffers from the rare genetic condition, Fanconi Anemia, which is likely to prove fatal before the Avengers: Infinity War sequel premieres on April 24.
He titled the thread “Dying Before April: My Endgame.” in the post, he explained:
“Liver cancer, mouth cancer, bone marrow failure. Will probably be dead before April. I’ve heard of people getting early screenings before.
How do I get in on this action?
I’m not a child or anyone with a, particularly tragic story. Just a normal guy. I’m 33, lost my sister three years ago to the same rare genetic disease it turns out I have too. I’ll leave behind a devoted girlfriend and an adopted greyhound.
I thought I’d make it to April at least but my bone marrow is toast.”
Last August, Marvel fans rallied around a young girl in the UK with terminal brain cancer to help her find out what happened in Avengers: Endgame and now they have done it again!
The campaign went viral with the hashtag #Avengers4Alexander and led to Hemsworth asking Disney to get in touch with Alexander.
Days later, Alexander revealed that Disney reached out to him to discuss options.
“I cried when I read their email. It’s everything I hoped for and I owe it to all of you,” Alexander wrote on Reddit.
He added: “A few commenters have offered financial support. I’ve told them that money isn’t my problem, just time. Instead I’d like to direct you to donate money for research into my genetic disease, Fanconi Anemia.”
Alexander lived a disease-free life until 2017, when he developed mouth cancer which led to much of his jaw being amputated. He then got bone marrow cancer and liver cancer in 2018, when he was told he only had a year at most to live.
Discussing the devastating news, he told the Sunday Telegraph: “I often wonder what my life would have been like had I known from the age of 13 that my expected lifespan was only 30 to 35.
I think that would have been a huge psychological burden to bear, and the pressure to make every day count hard to ignore.”
He added that he was overwhelmed with the support from strangers, saying: “The messages of support have propped me up. I’m so used to trolls on the internet that I’d forgotten how much kindness there is in the world.”
You can donate money for research into Fanconi Anemia by clicking here.
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