At 4 years old he was diagnosed with Leukemia.
He fought it for his entire life.
At 21 years old, the cancer finally claimed him.
That could have been the story of Nick Danger.
But it isn't.
I met Nick while I studied at the Sydney Film School. We had different sensibilities, he being an avid South Park fan, and I the Irish-Catholic sarcastic humourist.
But his energy was undeniable.
He spoke early on of his heroes, Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez. The kings of low budget character-driven films that became major players in Hollywood. Nick wanted to emulate their storytelling styles for his own ideas.
For our first films at the Film School, I made a documentary about whether or not I was related to Mel Gibson and Nick made a documentary about his long term battle with cancer. Both were honest films, with some humour thrown in for good measure.
Funnily enough, both of our films were eventually selected for the same short film festival in St Kilda, Australia.
And then he was gone. We both graduated and we didn't really keep in touch.
Then, recently, I heard that he had achieved his dream of making a low budget feature film 'Sick', and that it was screening in LA as a part of the Independent Filmmakers Showcase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBgT96kJcXc
http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=18540&s=news_files
Suddenly, he and I were back in touch again, trying to organise a screening of his film for The Sydney Film School community. He was upbeat and energetic, looking forward to screening and talking about the film.
I was taking far too long to get it organised, bumping it down on my priority list under developing scripts, working on my own films and other related issues. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have done better.
Then a week ago I login to Facebook for a quick check in, only to see the bulletin "RIP Nick Danger".
I thought it was a joke at first. A promotional opportunity for his film. The film was called 'Sick', after all.
But slowly I realised it was real.
As always happens in these situations, the blanks were filled in by multiple people.
Nick had become sick again some time ago. He was keeping it as quiet as possible, understandably.
Finally, it had become too much for his body to cope with. I am told he spent his penultimate night talking and joking with friends, then he passed away peacefully in his sleep the next day.
Nick Danger.
At 4 years old he was diagnosed with Leukemia.
He fought it for his entire life.
At 21 years old, the cancer finally claimed him.
He never let it get in the way of his dreams.
In those 21 years he graduated from film school, made short films that were acclaimed and chosen for film festivals, achieved his dream of making a low budget feature film, and had the feature film selected to screen in Hollywood.
He lived more in his 21 years than most people do in a lifetime.
That will be the story of Nick Danger.
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