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Calif. Girl Gets Dying Wish To See Movie 'Up'

Colby Curtin got her final wish.

The 10-year-old girl desperately wanted to see the new Disney-Pixar movie, "Up." But the cancer-stricken girl was too sick to go to a theater.

On June 10, an employee of Pixar Animation Studios, which is based in the San Francisco Bay city of Emeryville, flew with a DVD copy to Colby's home. By then, the girl had only hours to live, The Orange County Register reported Friday.

While waiting for the movie to arrive, Colby's mother, Lisa, said she asked her daughter: "Do you think you can hang on?"

"I'm ready (to die), but I'm going to wait for the movie," she said her daughter replied.

Colby died about seven hours later. A vigil was scheduled Friday.

A call to Pixar seeking comment Friday was not immediately returned.

"Up" is the animated tale of a grumpy old man who, after his wife's death, tries to fulfill their joint dream of visiting South America by tying thousands of balloons to his house and floating away.

"When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie," Colby's mother told the newspaper. "I just know that word 'Up' and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven."

Colby, who was diagnosed with vascular cancer in 2005, saw previews for the film in April and eagerly awaited the movie.

"It was from then on, she said, 'I have to see that movie. It is so cool,'" family friend Carole Lynch said.

Colby's health began to deteriorate. On June 4, Curtin asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair so that her daughter could go to a movie theater but the chair was not delivered over the weekend, Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby was too sick to go anywhere.

Another family friend, Terrell Orum, wanted Colby to see the movie. She called both Pixar and Disney, which owns the animation studio.

At Pixar, the automated message system required her to name someone in order to be connected. Orum said she guessed a name and was transferred.

The message was received by Pixar officials, who agreed to send someone to Colby's house the next day with a copy of "Up" for a private screening, Orum said.

The employee arrived at about 12:30 p.m. with the DVD, stuffed animals of characters and other movie memorabilia.

Colby was unable to open her eyes to see the movie so her mother described the scenes. After the movie ended, her mother asked if Colby enjoyed it. Her daughter nodded, Curtin said.

The Pixar employee left after the movie, taking the DVD, which has not been released.

"He couldn't have been nicer," said Lynch, who was with the family during the screening. "His eyes were just welled up."

Colby, with her parents nearby, died at 9:20 p.m.

Her mother said one of the movie items left by the Pixar employee was an "adventure book" based on a scrapbook that, in the movie, is kept by the wife of the main character.

"I'll have to fill those adventures in for her," Lisa Curtin said of her daughter.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)