“Alive and kicking and going to work”: Sam Neill reveals cancer diagnosis

Actor Sam Neill has revealed he is being treated for stage-three blood cancer.

Neill, whose credits include Jurassic Park, Dead Calm, Peaky Blinders, The Twelve and Invasion, revealed the diagnosis in a new book, Did I Ever Tell You This?, but later took to social media to advise he is “alive and kicking.”

He began treatment last March for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Neill, 75, wrote in the book, “The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up.”

He told The Guardian he is now in remission but will continue to undergo chemotherapy for the remainder of his life.

“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” he said.

“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.”

Speaking from his vineyard in NZ he added, “I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these lovely terraces, we’ve got these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be around to see it all mature. And I’ve got my lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big.

“But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”

Neill posted on social media with an update…

He is currently preparing for a role in a television adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s novel Apples Never Fall, which will be filmed in Queensland.

Source: ABC, The Guardian