‘I’m crook, possibly dying’ -Jurassic Park star, Sam Neill reveals he’s being treated for stage-three blood cancer

New Zealand actor, Sam Neill has revealed that he is being treated for stage-three blood cancer.

The Jurassic Park star disclosed the news in his upcoming memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This, where he writes in the first chapter that he is ‘possibly dying.’

In an interview with The Guardian, the 75-year-old actor said: ‘The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying.’

He added: ‘I may have to speed this up. I found myself with nothing to do.

‘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?”‘

Neill also told the BBC that he has had ‘a ferocious type of aggressive’ non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

He began writing his memoir as a distraction and to ‘give me a reason to get through the day.’  
 

The book will look back on the New Zealand actor’s 50-year career on screen, as well as his sudden illness.

Neill revealed that he sought medical treatment after noticing that he had lumpy glands on his neck while doing a publicity tour last year for the film Jurassic World Dominion.

The Piano star stayed calm when doctors told him of his diagnosis, and he immediately began plotting to write a book of his life.

‘I thought I need to do something, and I thought, ‘Shall I start writing?’ he told the BBC.

‘I didn’t think I had a book in me, I just thought I’d write some stories. And I found it increasingly engrossing.

‘A year later, not only have I written the book – I didn’t have a ghostwriter – but it’s come out in record time,’ he said proudly.

And about the literary effort he also said he ‘never had any intention to write a book.’

Sam explained, ‘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.’