Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill 'is not afraid of dying' as he opens up on battle with cancer

Actor Sam Neill says he 'is not afraid of dying' as he opens up about his battle with cancer.

The New Zealand actor, born in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, is best known for his role as palaeontologist Alan Grant in Jurassic Park.

In March of this year, the 76-year-old revealed in his memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? that he was being treated for stage-three blood cancer.

Three months after he received chemotherapy for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, the treatment stopped working.

However, when doctors started to give him a rare anti-cancer drug, the infusions, which are required every two weeks, started to show positive results.

Neill has been in remission for 12 months.

Although his treatments are 'very grim and depressing', the actor acknowledges that they are 'keeping [him] alive'.

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"I know I've got it, but I'm not really interested in it," he told ABC in a new interview.

"It's out of my control. If you can't control it, don't get into it."

But it is not dying he is afraid of, rather it's retirement which 'fills him with horror'.

"I started to think I better write some of this down because I'm not sure how long I have to live," the actor added.

"I was running against the clock."

Neill has been told by doctors that the drug will stop working at some point, and he's 'prepared for that'.

In an interview with The Guardian, the actor explained: "The thing is, I'm crook. I may have to speed this up. I found myself with nothing to do.

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"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?'"

Neill also told the BBC that he started writing his memoir to 'give me a reason to get through the day'.

"I thought I need to do something, and I thought, "Shall I start writing?'" he said.

"I didn't think I had a book in me, I just thought I'd write some stories. And I found it increasingly engrossing.

"A year later, not only have I written the book - I didn't have a ghostwriter - but it's come out in record time."

He says that working on the book has provided him with a fresh perspective.

Topics: Celebrity, Jurassic Park, Health

Anish Vij

Anish is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2024 finalist. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

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