Sam Neill is being treated for stage-three blood cancer, but is currently in remission.
The 75-year-actor, best known for his role as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, announced his battle with cancer in a new memoir set to be published on Tuesday, March 21st.
According to The Guardian, Neill was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma shortly following the publicity tour for Jurassic World Dominion last year. After initial attempts at chemotherapy were unsuccessful, Neill began taking a new chemotherapy drug which he will continue to receive monthly for the rest of his life. As of now, Neill is cancer-free.
“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” Neill told The Guardian. “But those dark moments throw the light into sharp relief, you know, and have made me grateful for every day and immensely grateful for all my friends. Just pleased to be alive.”
Neil began write the book, titled Did I Ever Tell You This?, while undergoing treatment. “I found myself with nothing to do,” Neill explained to The Guardian. “And I’m used to working. I love working. I love going to work. I love being with people every day and enjoying human company and friendship and all these things. And suddenly I was deprived of that. And I thought, ‘what am I going to do?’
“I never had any intention to write a book. But as I went on and kept writing, I realised it was actually sort of giving me a reason to live and I would go to bed thinking, ‘I’ll write about that tomorrow … that will entertain me.’ And so it was a lifesaver really, because I couldn’t have gone through that with nothing to do, you know.”