The 75-year-old Jurassic Park actor said he’s “simply delighted to be alive” and that he plans to write about his experience with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma in his upcoming memoir Did I Ever Told You This? He must receive chemotherapy once a month, most certainly for the remainder of his life, because he has a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The past year “hasn’t been without its gloomy times,” admitted Neill. But, as you know, during those bad times, the light is brought into stark contrast, which has increased my gratitude for each day and all of my friends.

He learned his diagnosis after first experiencing swollen glands last March while doing press for Jurassic World Dominion, and began writing vignettes from his life while receiving chemotherapy.

“I found myself with nothing to do,” he recalled. “And I’m used to working. I love working. I love going to work. I love being with people every day and enjoying the human company and friendship and all these things. And suddenly I was deprived of that. And I thought, ‘what am I going to do?’ ”

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“I never had any intention to write a book. But as I went on and kept writing, I realized it was actually sort of giving me a reason to live and I would go to bed thinking, ‘I’ll write about that tomorrow … that will entertain me.’ And so it was a lifesaver really because I couldn’t have gone through that with nothing to do, you know,” added Neill.

Even while the novel is not about Neill’s cancer, the diagnosis does act as a “spiral thread” running through it, according to Neill. “The fact is, I’m a criminal. maybe passing away. I might have to expedite this “The first chapter is where he writes, according to The Guardian.

Neill said that his chemotherapy failed, but the new monthly chemotherapy medicine had stopped any cancer from coming back.