Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has revealed he is undergoing treatment for stage three blood cancer.
The 75-year-old actor told the Guardian that writing his memoir gave him a “reason to live” after the diagnosis.
He said he started writing the book as a way to occupy himself while receiving treatment last year.
“I realized it actually gave me a reason to live,” Neill said.
“I would go to bed thinking, ‘I’ll write about this tomorrow…it’ll amuse me.’
“And so it really saved my life, because I couldn’t have gone through that without doing anything, you know.”
Neill, from New Zealand, said he first felt swollen glands while advertising for Jurassic World: Dominion in March last year before being diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma – a type rare non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
His book is also said to be about his experience of chemotherapy, which initially began to fail, before being given a new chemotherapy drug which he will take every month for the rest of his life – although he is now cancer free.
Neil told the Guardian: “I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark times. But those dark times shine a light, you know, and have made me grateful for each day and immensely grateful for all my friends.
“Just happy to be alive.”
Neill starred as Major Chester Campbell in the hit BBC series Peaky Blinders and reprized his role as Alan Grant in the hit Jurassic Park franchise last year.
Her memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, will be released on March 21.
