Sam Neill is in remission after blood cancer diagnosis
Ava Barnes I read the headline about Sam Neill having cancer right after I read that Lance Reddick had died and I had to close my computer for the day. It was too much for me. Fortunately, there’s more to Sam’s story. He told The Guardian that he’d been seeking treatment for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a blood cancer. The interview came out last week, which is the first most of his fans had heard this information. While seeking treatment, Sam wrote a memoir, which he wrote with the understanding he may not survive, especially after the first round of chemotherapy didn’t work. The Guardian quoted a passage that reflected Sam’s frame of mind – at the time – and everyone went to the presses with “SAM NEILL IS DYING!” Sam responded to the hysteria with a sweet video on Instagram to assure everyone he’s doing much better than the death notices on social media announced. He said he’s not totally out of the woods but as of this writing, there is no cancer in his body. Phew!
Sam Neill wants everyone to know that he’s doing just “fine” after recently revealing that he was diagnosed with stage 3 blood cancer last year.
The Jurassic Park star, 75, took to Instagram on Saturday to assure fans that he’s been in remission for the last eight months.
“My [health] news seems to be all over the news at the moment, and it’s sort of ‘Cancer! Cancer! Cancer!’” the New Zealand-born star shared. “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.”
“I just wish the headline wasn’t ‘that thing’ so much, because the main thing is that I have written this book,” he continued. “And it does mention cancer because that’s the sort of context in which I wrote it.”
Neill first spoke about his health situation in an interview with the Guardian that was released on Friday. He shared that he first discovered he was ill while doing press for Jurassic World Dominion last year, noticing that he had swollen glands. Within weeks, he was receiving chemotherapy for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a blood cancer.
Unfortunately, the first round of treatments didn’t work. The piece cited a passage in his book in which he writes “the thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up.” Neill went on to say that he’s “not afraid to die, but it would annoy me.”
He told the newspaper, “I’d really like another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these lovely terraces, we’ve got these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be around to see it all mature. And I’ve got my lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big. But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”
I posted his full video below. While Sam is charming and chuckles throughout it, I should warn those who are fans of Sam’s IG, there are no pigs in it, alas. However, he did say he is headed back to work filming a movie with Anette Benning. So not only has he been in remission for eight months, he feels good enough to go back to work. This is all good news. He looks and sounds great in the video as well. So let’s just keep those positive vibes coming Sam’s way.
And now Sam’s cancer announcement has become his book promotion, at least that’s where he’d like us to focus our attention. According to his video, Sam said he got bored during treatment not being able to work. He’d never not working before so he wrote a memoir titled Did I Ever Tell You? I guess it was either write a book or needlepoint, right? He also just finished recording the audiobook. I could listen to Sam speak for days… and I guess now I can. The book is out today in eBook and audiobook format. In addition to Apples Never Fall with Annette Benning, Sam has four other projects either in or post production.
And then, of course, he’ll get back to his regularly scheduled pig content.
Photo credit: Snapper/Wenn/Avalon, Instagram and Getty Images
