Sir Sam Neill has revealed that he has stage-3 blood cancer and believes he is “perhaps dying” in an exclusive interview.
The Jurassic Park star is scheduled to release his memoir, Did I Ever Told You This? next week, and he began it with a powerful phrase. “The thing is, I’m a thief. Maybe dead. I might have to hurry up.”
Sam, 75, first noticed swollen glands last year while promoting the latest installment of the hit game Dominion.
He was then diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and began chemotherapy, which eventually failed. He was then given chemotherapy medicine, which means he is now cancer-free but will have to take it for the rest of his life.
The actor, born in New Zealand, explained: “I can’t pretend that the previous year hasn’t been difficult. Yet those terrible periods, you know, bring the sunshine into sharp focus and have made me appreciative of every day and enormously grateful for all my friends. I’m just glad to be alive.”
Fans have rushed to Sam’s aid, with many wishing him well in his ongoing battle with cancer.
Four children will undoubtedly support the star. He shares one child with ex-girlfriend Lisa Harrow and two with ex-wife Noriko Watanabe after adopting her first daughter from her previous marriage. He also has another son from an earlier relationship, whom he fathered in 1994.
According to Cancer Research UK, angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that attacks t-cells, which are part of the immune system.
Symptoms include swelling lymph nodes, fever, itching, weight loss, rashes, and joint inflammation.
Although this type of cancer is curable, there is a high risk of relapse.
