Actor Sam Neill has revealed that he has been diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer.
The Jurassic Park actor shared the sad news of his diagnosis in a unflinchingly honest memoir being released next week.
The Guardian reported in the opening chapter of Neill’s book he writes: “The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up.”
Neill said he was now in remission after undergoing treatment.
During the publicity tour for Jurassic Park the actor discovered a lump and was quickly diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma – a fairly uncommon blood cancer.
The BBC reported that the 75-year-old actor revealed that he only decided to write a book after being given the bad news by a doctor.
“I thought I need to do something, and I thought, ‘Shall I start writing?’ I didn’t think I had a book in me, I just thought I’d write some stories. And I found it increasingly engrossing,” he said.
Neill was so engrossed that he finished the memoir relatively quickly, joking: “I suspect my publishers, they’re delightful people, but I think they wanted to get it out in a hurry just in case I kicked the bucket before it was time to release the thing.”
To treat the disease he tried chemotherapy but when that wasn’t as responsive as he hoped, he started a different and newer chemotherapy drug that has worked and he will stay on indefinitely.
Neill is currently cancer-free.
The seasoned actor told BBC that he hopes his cancer diagnosis doesn’t outshine his memoir. “The last thing I want is for people to obsess about the cancer thing because I’m not really interested in cancer. I’m m not really interested in anything other than living.”
Neill, who was born in the UK, raised in New Zealand and beloved in Australia, is most famous for his role in Jurassic Park and he has been a staple in Australian cinema and television for more than fifty years.
Originally published at www.news.com.au