Sam Neill revealed he is being treated for stage-three blood cancer in an interview with The Guardian published on Friday.
The 75-year-old actor, who’s best known for his roles in the “Jurassic Park” films, details his angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma diagnosis and treatment in the new memoir, “Did I Ever Tell You This?,” which is out March 21.
“I’m not afraid to die,” he writes in the memoir, “but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know? … But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”
He first noticed symptoms while doing publicity for “Jurassic World Dominion” last year and says he is now cancer-free after taking a new chemotherapy drug.
Neill said he started writing the book while undergoing chemotherapy last year.
“I found myself with with nothing to do,” Neill told 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?’”
He added that he “never had any intention to write a book,” but realized it helped keep him going. “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.”
“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” said the actor, whose other film credits include “The Piano,” “Event Horizon” and “In the Mouth of Madness.” “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.”
