Avengers assemble: hunt for Captain America DVD for dying man turns into prostate cancer awareness campaign

 
Avengers assemble: this photo of Stratford Caldecott (far left) was initially tweeted to celebrities (Picture: Sophie Caldecott)
Alexandra Rucki16 May 2014

A campaign to find a copy of a Captain America DVD for a man dying of cancer has turned into a huge crusade to raise awareness of the disease.

Sophie Caldecott, a freelance journalist, began the campaign on Monday after her comic-book loving father Stratford Caldecott, 66, who suffers from prostate cancer, discovered he only had 12 weeks to live.

The 26-year-old wanted to find a way to make his final days count and went on a mission to find an advanced copy of Captain America: The Winter Soldier on DVD as Mr Caldecott was too sick to see it in the cinema.

Support: Samuel L Jackson

He was looking forward to watching it when it was released in August but realised he would probably never get to see it.

Sophie got in touch with Marvel requesting an advanced copy in a bid to find a way of respite for her dad.

She took the campaign a step further by asking stars of superhero films to tweet selfies of themselves holding messages of support for her father to enjoy, using the hashtag #CapForStrat.

In less than 24 hours Sophie was inundated with tweets from movie stars, with star of the Hulk Mark Ruffalo the first actor to get in on the action. Samuel L Jackson, Tom Hiddleston and Captain America himself Mark Evans soon joined the campaign and posted images of themselves holding messages of support.

<blockquote xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Thor and Iron Man got your back, Strat. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CapForStrat&amp;src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-244946-https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CapForStrat&amp;src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#CapForStrat</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&amp;id=222025&amp;p=http://t.co/hNp033KOSe" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-244946-http://t.co/hNp033KOSe" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/hNp033KOSe</a>— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/RobertDowneyJr/statuses/467299664220262402" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-244946-https://twitter.com/RobertDowneyJr/statuses/467299664220262402" data-vars-event-id="c23">May 16, 2014</a>

By Wednesday Marvel responded and said someone will come round with a copy of the film.

<blockquote xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Thanks <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-244946-https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo" data-vars-event-id="c23">@MarkRuffalo</a> !!!! <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&amp;id=222025&amp;p=http://t.co/zihcHNEofd" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-244946-http://t.co/zihcHNEofd" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/zihcHNEofd</a>— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/statuses/466947865747550208" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-244946-https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/statuses/466947865747550208" data-vars-event-id="c23">May 15, 2014</a>

But the family were also overwhelmed by messages of support from other people affected by cancer and have taken up the idea to use the superhero idea as a new way to raise awareness.

Sophie said: “It has been really amazing. I have been sending them to him when they come in. This morning we got one from Tom Hillsen, a bad guy, he has turned to the good side for dad.

Brett Dalton: the actor tweeted this picture to raise awareness

“He had been having a really rough morning and that really cheered him up. It is a simple thing that has been making a big difference.”

She added: “It is becoming more about being a way of trying to support people who have it. I think it is a great campaign for someone who has cancer.

“Movember is a great campaign and my family have been raising money for Movember since dad got prostate cancer. It is quite a macho thing, this has a geekier side to it. It is for a new group of people who might not necessarily be able to grow moustaches.”

Mark Ruffalo: the star shows his support

The campaigner has already been in contact with a prostate cancer charity and hopes the messages will encourage people to get tested. Blood tests did not show her father had cancer and the family thought his symptoms were initially a wheat intolerance.

She said: “A message to get out is if you have these symptoms just be aware you might have to have the more invasive unpleasant test.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in