'Science at Its Best'
"It looked like I was on the way out," the Jurassic Park star said
Sam Neill is now cancer-free and he credits a groundbreaking new therapy for it.
“I’ve been living with a particular type of lymphoma for about five years and I was on chemotherapy and the pretty miserable business but it was keeping me alive,” Neill said in an interview with Australian network 7News. “Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal obviously.”
The actor’s only option left was CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies patients’ blood cells and is in clinical trials to treat another blood cancer, myeloma, according to the outlet. “I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing,” Neill said. “I’m very, very excited that this can happen.” The Jurassic Park star added: “It’s time I did another movie.”
Neill is currently advocating for state and federal governments to fund the life-saving treatment for all blood cancer patients in Australia with the help of the Snowdome Foundation. “It’s science at its best,” he said.
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In 2023, the actor revealed that he was diagnosed with stage 3 blood cancer. “I’m not afraid to die,” he told The Guardian, “but it would annoy me. Because 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.” He said, “But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”