KVSP Sam Neill “not remotely afraid” to die from cancer, but finds retirement “horrifying”
Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on October 16, 2023
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill is living with non-Hodgkin blood cancer — angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma — but he doesn’t give it much thought.
“I know I’ve got it, but I’m not really interested in it,” Neill, 76, tells Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Australian Story.
“It’s out of my control. If you can’t control it, don’t get into it,” he explains.
As reported, the actor had sought chemotherapy for the illness but stopped responding to it, forcing his doctors to use a different treatment. Infusions every two weeks has put the cancer in remission for the past 12 months.
That said, he knows it could return, but he declares, “I’m prepared for that,” adding he’s “not remotely afraid” of dying.
Instead, what scares the still-working actor is someday not being able to perform. That, he says, “fills me with horror.”
Neill says when he was undergoing chemo, “I started to look at my life and realize how immensely grateful I am for so much of it.” He then put pen to paper for his book, Did I Ever Tell You This?
“I don’t pretend to be a writer, but I am a conversationalist. I love chatting,” the actor says. “Here are some stories that amuse me. You might like them, too.”
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