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“Nine-year-old Jacob Thompson is your average kid. His obsessions include Minecraft and Legos, and he’s a huge “Star Wars” fan.

He’s
also a photographer, singer and comedian, according to his stepmother,
Tara Artinyan. And most of all, he really, really loves penguins.

But
Jacob has Stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, and doctors told his family
in early October he probably only had a month to live.

So they’ll
celebrate Christmas early this year, and Jacob wants people to celebrate
with him by sending him cards, his mother, Michelle Simard told CNN.

“He
got some cards from this Halloween, and he opened up and saw them and
it was like getting a gift. He read it to us and had a big smile his
face and his nose scrunched,” Jacob’s father, Roger Guay, told CNN in a
phone interview. “He was excited to see what people had to say and it
just brightened his day.”

Fighting a long battle

Jacob
was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma when he was 5. According to
the American Cancer Society, only half of children diagnosed with the
disease reach the five-year survival mark.

After Jacob was admitted to the Barbara Bush Children’s
Hospital on October 11, doctors discovered that the neuroblastoma had
spread to his head and was incurable, according to a GoFundMe page set
up by his mother.

“People have called him an old soul and I
believe it because he has taught us so much about life and about
people,” said Guay. “He’s accomplished everything that he needed to do
by 9 years old, and a lot of people don’t accomplish that, ever.”

An early Christmas

Artinyan said the family decided to “fast-forward” Christmas to give Jacob one last celebration.

And for him, that means a lot of snow, a decked-out tree, and of course, a real-life Santa Claus.

But
before his improvised Christmas celebration takes place in early
November, Jacob asked for cards from anyone around the world who wanted
to share his Christmas spirit.

And only five days after he
announced his wish, he has already received more than 100 cards from
people all over the country – and even beyond.

“We got over a
hundred, and they’re from all over the world. We have some from the
Netherlands, from Australia, from Denmark,” said Artinyan. “We’ve heard
from all over the world at this point. We’ve even heard from
Antarctica.”

Antarctica – where Jacob’s favorite animals live.

“We’d
like people to live life like a penguin, and by that we mean dive into
life, find warmth among friends, stay cool and just give to others,”
said Artinyan, referring to Jacob’s favorite penguin poem, “Advice from a
Penguin.”

Cards can be sent to Jacob here:

Jacob Thompson

c/o Maine Medical Center

22 Bramhall Street

Portland, ME 04102

USA

FOR JACOB

💜💙💜💙 FOR JACOB

9-Year-old with cancer wants cards for his last Christmas