Actor Jason Momoa is dedicating his upcoming film "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" to one of his young fans who recently died from cancer.
Eight-year-old Danny Sheehan died from a rare form of brain cancer on Sunday. In an emotional post on Monday, 42-year-old Momoa said learning of Danny's death had broken his heart.
"I just found out this heartbreaking news," Momoa wrote on Instagram. "All my Aloha to this beautiful Ohana Love u baby boy rest in (peace)."
"You will live in my heart," he wrote. "I dedicate Aquaman 2 to you lil angel Aloha UNKO Aquaman."
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Momoa is set to reprise his role as Aquaman in the upcoming December 2022 sequel.
Danny first caught Momoa's eye in November 2020, when a video of the boy excitedly opening an Aquaman action figure went viral. Momoa even video called Danny and talked to him, and he gifted him a life-size trident.
Momoa's Monday Instagram tribute features a mural of Danny and Aquaman created by the Boys and Girls Club in Danny's hometown of Marshfield, Massachusetts.
Danny's mother, Natalie Sheehan, posted a message on Sunday on 4TheLoveofDanny, a Facebook page dedicated to Danny.
"Just after midnight, while in our arms, Danny took his last sweet small warm breaths and took flight," she wrote. "An Angel in Heaven. Instead of here on earth. Surreal and utter heartbreak can’t even begin to describe this feeling inside."
Danny, who was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor known as pineoblastoma in 2017, was affectionately called "Marshfield Police Officer Sheehan" or AquaDan by those who knew him.
"Danny’s departure leaves a hole in the lives of all those whom he met. To know him was to absolutely adore him. A wise old man in a little boy’s body, Danny was an impish ball of determination, light, cuddles, stubbornness, manners, fighting spirit, humor, sweetness, and laughter," the Sheehan family wrote in Danny's obituary.
"He loved nothing more than snuggling with his best friend, Mummy (said in an English accent — a result of Danny’s being an avid fan of Peppa Pig), telling jokes with his beloved Daddy, making 'set-ups' with his toys and trains, seeing his friends from school and attending birthday parties, making voyages to the toy aisles of Target, devouring endless plates of noodles with Parmesan cheese or fries with ketchup, and telling everyone about how his rescue dogs, Ryder and Miley, wrestled too much."
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