The Avengers stars including Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans have come together to make a cancer-stricken fan’s dream come true. Brit Stratford Caldecott, 60, was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2011 and doctors have now given him just weeks to live. His daughter, Sophie, launched a social media campaign appealing to Marvel bosses to send her father a DVD of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as Caldecott, a huge Marvel Comics fan, is too ill to make it to the cinema.
Using the hashtag #CapForStrat, users on Twitter and Instagram began taking photos of themselves holding up signs appealing to the cast of The Avengers and actors from TV series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to join the cause. Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk in the blockbuster franchise, was the first to send his support with a photo of himself holding up a sign which read: “Banner/Hulk for Strat! #CapForStrat”. He added the caption: “Hang tough Strat! We are pulling for you.”
Ruffalo’s co-stars soon followed suit, with Evans, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, and Cobie Smulders as well as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actors Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, and Elizabeth Henstridge all sending in their “Strat Selfies”. Thanks to their star power, the campaign has worked – Marvel chiefs have agreed to organise a special screening of the latest Captain America movie at Caldecott’s home in England.
Daughter Sophie says, “We’ve actually achieved what we wanted to achieve in that Marvel have got in touch and are going to arrange for dad to see The Winter Soldier at home, hopefully next week. And the selfies of support for him from the cast are just a wonderful cherry on top that are making him smile. I’m going to get them all printed out and stick them by his bed for when times get tougher.”
