Sam Neill has admitted he is “grateful” for his life and credits modern medicine for his successful battle against blood cancer.
The 77-year-old actor was diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (blood cancer), in 2022.
Sam has been undergoing chemotherapy since March 2023 and has spoken out about how aggressive the treatment is.
She previously received infusions every two weeks and said in August that the sessions are “very grim and depressing.”
Sam told Kate Thornton White Wine Question Time Podcast: “If this had happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
Sam Neill has admitted he is “grateful” for his life and credits modern medicine for his successful battle against blood cancer.
The 77-year-old actor was diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (blood cancer), in 2022.
Sam has been undergoing chemotherapy since March 2023 and has spoken out about how aggressive the treatment is.
He also said he “completely” attributes his “one or two brushes” with cancer to agrochemicals (fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides).
Neill continued: ‘I’m in remission and as you can see I’m working hard and enjoying life very much.
“I am very grateful not only for the wonderful care I have received from the doctors and nurses, etc., but also for the advances that have been made in the treatment of these things in recent years.”
“If this had happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
Northern Ireland-born Sam said: “I go (for treatment) once a month now, but before I was going three times a month.”
‘After that we had three or four horrible days, but then everything goes well and you get encouraged and go to the gym and all that.’
The New Zealander rose to fame as dinosaur expert Dr Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park series in the 1990s, and last appeared in the role in 2022.
Sam told Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast: “If this had happened to me 20 years ago, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
The New Zealander rose to fame as dinosaur expert Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park series in the 1990s, last appearing in the role in 2022.
Since 2022, Sam has appeared in the Australian drama The Twelve, which follows the story of Kate Lawson, on trial for the alleged murder of her niece, and how the twelve jurors bring their personal lives and prejudices into the courtroom.
The Twelve has been renewed for a third season in 2022.
Sam has also appeared in The Jungle Book, The Vow, Thor: Love and Thunder and the television series Merlin and Peaky Blinders.
He has a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the 1980 series Reilly, Ace Of Spies and an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of the titular wizard in the 1998 miniseries Merlin, alongside the late James Earl Jones.
In August, Sam was left in tears during a heartbreaking interview when he was asked a simple question about his parents.
Sam broke down in the debut episode of the ABC series The Assembly When asked what was the “best lesson” he learned from his parents.
Struck by the “interesting” question posed by one of the autistic trainee interviewers, he fought back tears as he recalled his mother Priscilla.
“Wow, that’s a really interesting question. I think they were… (chokes up) I don’t know why that question touched me so much, but it did,” the Jurassic Park star said.
Since 2022, Sam has appeared in the Australian drama The Twelve, which follows the story of Kate Lawson, on trial for the alleged murder of her niece, and how the twelve jurors bring their personal lives and prejudices into the courtroom.
‘My parents were from a generation that went through a lot. They went through the (Great) Depression. My mother lost her father in World War I.
“She grew up without her father. They went through a lot, but they were very stoic people.”
Sam was born in Northern Ireland, the son of Priscilla Beatrice (née Ingham) and Dermot Neill, while his father, an army officer, was stationed in the country.
In the same episode, Sam joked that chemotherapy made him look like a “bald thumb”, adding: “It was embarrassing, I lost my beard and everything, and my dignity went with it.”
New episodes of White Wine Question Time are released every Tuesday and Friday on all podcast platforms.
Sam pictured with one of his three children, his son Tim.
