Sam Neill, 75 best known for his role in the Jurassic Park films assured fans of late that he was still “alive and kicking” despite his recent cancer diagnosis. The actor recently opened up about suffering from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He has been going for chemotherapy once a month and on March 18 posted on Instagram stating,
Sam Neill – Long IG Post
“Hi, I’m Sam Neill! Actor of sorts, vintner, and an author as it happens. And my news seems to be all over the news at the moment, and it’s sort of ‘Cancer! Cancer! Cancer!’ Which is slightly tiresome because as you see, I am alive and well and I have been in remission for eight months, which feels really good. And I’m alive and kicking and I’m going to work. I’m very happy to be going back to work. We start filming in seven days time. I’m doing a thing called ‘Apples Never Fall’ with Annette Bening, and a really wonderful cast. So here I am, and I just wish the headline wasn’t ‘that thing’ so much because the main thing is that I have written this book, it’s called ‘Did I Ever Tell You This?’
And it does mention cancer because that’s the sort of context in which I wrote it, But I didn’t really mean to write a book, I needed something to do while I was undergoing treatment, and I am used to going to work. So that’s why I wrote the book, and I have to say there’s been great response to it. People seem to love it, which his great. I was very nervous, obviously as a first time author. Anyway, I think it’s fun. We sub-titled it ‘Movies, Life, Love and Other Catastrophes. So it happened to me. The tone of the book is one of surprise………”
The long Instagram post by Sam Neill went on to talk about the book and his career as an actor.
He emphasizes that his book isn’t a story about cancer but how it affects his life in other ways as it forms a “spiral thread”.
Swollen Glands
Sam Neill suffered from swollen glands during the publicity for Jurassic World Dominion in March 2022 and he was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. He went for traditional chemotherapy but when that failed he started a new chemotherapy drug which he will take monthly for the rest of his life, although he is now cancer-free.
“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments. But those dark moments throw 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,”
NOTE: Photo above is from YouTube