Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill reveals he has stage-three cancer

Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has revealed that he has stage-three blood cancer.

In the first chapter of his book, he writes: "The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up."

"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?"

Shortly after the checkup, the actor was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, an aggressive lymphoma that affects blood cells called T-cells.

"I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments," he continued.

"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.

"[I'm] Just pleased to be alive."

As for Did I Ever Tell you This?, the book is set to drop on 21 March and is described as a 'fascinating and remarkably honest memoir'.

Neill told the outlet that it's not a cancer diary, but that his illness is somewhat of a 'spiral thread' throughout.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week