#RogueOneWish is a Twitter hashtag that’s gaining steam, designed to help terminal cancer patient Neil Hanvey see the upcoming Lucasfilm movie before his time runs out.
A “Star Wars” superfan and illustrator, 36-year-old Hanvey was told in April that he had eight months to live, roughly the same amount of time until “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is set for its worldwide release in mid-December.
Now fans — and also “Star Wars” veteran Mark Hamill — are helping Hanvey’s cause to see the movie before it’s too late.
It started when Hanvey’s wife, Andrea, and hospice worker Amy Duncan asked for support on Facebook to help him see the movie from his hospital bed before it hit theaters at year’s end.
Just two days ago, Hamill retweeted a story about the campaign to his 1.2 million followers:
https://twitter.com/Terravized/status/766379575353995264
And as the hashtag gained momentum, Rio Olympics 2016 mountain bike manager, Paul Davis, also tweeted from the starting line of a race. Popular “Star Wars” podcast “The Cantina Cast” is also fully backing the campaign.
This is not the first time a megafan with a terminal illness has campaigned to see a movie ahead of its release. Last year J.J. Abrams granted Daniel Fleetwood’s wish to see “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” before he passed away. And big “Batman” fan Barry Henderson got to see “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” after director Zack Snyder helped out.