“Jurassic Park” star Sam Neill suffers from a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Jurassic Park legend Sam Neill has been diagnosed with stage three blood cancer and is ‘possibly dying’.

The actor revealed in his memoir, due to be published later this month, that he has stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Lumps in his neck, which he noticed during a press tour last year, were the first symptom he felt of the disease. He quickly learned that he was suffering from a devastating illness. However, things are looking up as he is now in remission.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma begins in the white blood cells and usually occurs first in the neck lymph. Neill was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), which kills about 50 percent of those affected within five years.

Neill revealed his diagnosis in his new memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This, due for release later this month. He said the diagnosis inspired him to write the book cataloging his life.

Sam Neill, 75, has announced he has been diagnosed with stage three blood cancer

Shown above are the four main stages of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The Jurassic Park star has a rare form of this cancer called T-cell angioimmunoblastic lymphoma

His disease, AITL, is a rare and often rapidly growing type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

It accounts for about one to two percent of the 80,000 non-Hogkin lymphoma cases diagnosed in America each year. This means there are fewer than 2,000 cases per year.

In the UK, only 140 people are diagnosed with it each year.

He was also found to be stage three, meaning the lymphoma has now spread to both sides of the diaphragm.

Cancer Research UK experts previously said that stage three suggests the cancer is now in lymph nodes in the neck and spleen, a small organ next to the liver.

It hasn’t progressed to stage four, where the cancer has spread to the liver and caused damage.

Experts warn that the prognosis for lymphoma patients is generally poor, with only about half of patients surviving more than five years after diagnosis.

In his case, Neill says he received chemotherapy to fight the cancer. It is now in remission.

Despite this, he is expected to require chemotherapy for the rest of his life.

Among the warning signs of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for Neill was that he had lumpy glands – swollen lymph nodes – on his neck.

Other symptoms include fever, night sweats, skin rash, and autoimmune conditions like anemia, which are caused by the body attacking its own white blood cells.

Normally, a type of white blood cell called T-cells remains in the lymph, including the bone marrow, spleen, and tonsils.

But in AITL, these cells start dividing uncontrollably, leading to swelling of the nodes and other features of the disease.

Doctors say it’s usually not diagnosed until the later stages.

Reflecting on life, the veteran actor admitted, “I’m not afraid of death. But it would annoy me. Because I’d really like to have another decade or two, you know?

“We’ve built all these beautiful terraces, we have these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be there to see how it all matures. And I have my dear little grandchildren. I want to see them grow up.

“But the dying? I do not care at all.’

He also said that after receiving the diagnosis, he decided to write a book.

“I thought, ‘I have to do something, and I was like, ‘Should 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 captivating.

“A year later I not only wrote the book – I didn’t have a ghostwriter – but it came out in record time,” he says proudly.

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