Hollywood legend Sam Neill has shared an emotional health update after revealing he is now cancer-free following a brutal five-year battle with stage-three blood cancer.
The 78-year-old Jurassic Park star opened up in a deeply personal interview with Australian network 7 News, admitting he feared he was nearing the end of his life after chemotherapy suddenly stopped working.
Neill explained that he had been living with a rare form of lymphoma for years and endured exhausting rounds of chemotherapy simply to stay alive. But eventually, the treatment stopped having any effect.
He admitted: “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.
“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, best known around the world for playing Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise, said a groundbreaking treatment known as CAR T-cell therapy ultimately saved his life. The advanced procedure reportedly costs privately around $540,000 and works by genetically modifying a patient’s own immune cells to attack cancer.
Now, after undergoing the cutting-edge therapy, Neill says doctors can no longer find cancer anywhere in his body.
He shared the emotional moment by saying: “I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing. I’m very, very excited that this can happen.”
According to medical experts, CAR T-cell therapy “turbocharges” immune cells so they can finally recognise and destroy cancers that previously hid from the body’s immune system.
Neill first went public with his diagnosis in 2023 after discovering he had angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma while promoting Jurassic World Dominion in 2022. He had initially sought medical help after noticing swollen glands.
Despite the devastating diagnosis, the beloved actor repeatedly insisted he was never afraid of death — only frustrated by the idea of leaving life too soon.
Speaking previously, he admitted: “I’m not in any way frightened of dying. That doesn’t worry me.
“I’d be annoyed because there are things I still want to do. Very irritating, dying.”
Now, with a second chance at life, Neill says he is already thinking about returning to the big screen once again.
“It’s time I did another movie,” he said with a smile.
