Jacob Thompson, a U.S. boy whose battle with cancer inspired tens of thousands of people from across the world to send him Christmas cards, died on Sunday.

Thompson’s death came a week after an early Christmas celebration with his family at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, the United States, where he was treated during his four-year battle with neuroblastoma. He was 9.

Thompson’s positive spirit and his love of Christmas made headlines across the United States this month after his family asked people to send the boy handmade cards to help brighten his final days. He also loved penguins and his motto was “live life like a penguin,” which to Jacob meant “be friendly, stand by each other, go the extra mile, jump into life and be cool,” said his mother, Michelle Thompson Simard.

Thompson’s story was told by The Washington Post, ABC News and other national media outlets. His death made national news again on Monday in the United States as admirers posted notes of sympathy to the family in multiple languages on Facebook.

Thompson was diagnosed four years ago with stage-4 neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancerous tumor that had spread to his brain, his family said. Jacob was admitted to the hospital for the last time on October 11.

When it became clear that Thompson would not live until Christmas, his family decided to celebrate early and invited people through social media to send holiday cards to Jacob.

Friends and strangers from Maine and around the globe responded with more than 66,000 cards, along with gifts and video messages, wishing Thompson well.

A number of politicians and celebrities also responded to Thompson’s request, including former first lady Barbara Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maine native Anna Kendrick. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft sent Jacob a personal letter along with the autographs of players.

After his Christmas celebration last week, the family still had 21 pallets of boxes containing Christmas cards to open. Many of the cards, gifts and handmade drawings sent to Thompson featured penguins.

The Mystic Aquarium brought live penguins to the hospital to visit, a local magician performed a show just for Jacob and his family, and police officers from across New England drove to Portland to deliver cards and formed a motorcade that drove past the hospital so Jacob could see it from a window.

Radio station 94.9 WHOM kicked off its season of holiday music early to coincide with Jacob’s Christmas celebration and allowed him to choose the first song played. Thompson chose Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo.”

Thompson’s family announced his death on the Facebook page where they documented his battle with cancer, and responded to the overwhelming media attention.

“Each and every person who sent Jacob a Christmas card, a gift, a Facebook message or video, or a prayer made a difference in the final days of his life. You brought Jacob joy, and you brought us all optimism for the future,” the family wrote. “Thank you for taking the time, and taking an interest in our sweet boy’s journey. Sadly, there are many others like him that we hope you will continue to help.”

Within hours of the Facebook post announcing Thompson’s death, more than 3,000 people had left comments expressing their condolences and support for the family.

In the Facebook post about Thompson’s death, his family asks people who would like to make a donation in his honor to do so to Operation Gratitude, a penguin rescue group, or to pay it forward in the community.

“We hope that Jacob’s story and the enormous outpouring of support from around the world will have a lasting impact on raising awareness for this disease. We hope that donations will be made, and a cure will be discovered as a result,” his family said (SD-Agencies)