The 75-year-old actor was diagnosed with stage-three cancer last year.
In his upcoming memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This, Neil opened up about his cancer diagnosis and wrote that he’s ‘possibly dying.’
In a recent interview with The Guardian about his book, the New Zealand-based actor discussed his career, life, and battle with the deadly disease.
“The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying,” he writes in chapter one, “I may have to speed this up,” he said.
“I found myself with nothing to do and I’m used to working. I love working. I love going to work. I love being with people every day and enjoying human company and friendship and all these things. And suddenly I was deprived of that. And I thought, ‘what am I going to do?’”
He added, “I never had any intention to write a book. But as I went on and kept writing, I rearealized 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.”
Speaking to the BBC in another interview, The Twelve alum revealed that last year in March, he was diagnosed with a ‘ferocious type of aggressive’ non-Hodgkin lymphoma.’
So, he started writing his memoir to distract himself and to give himself a reason to get through his days.
“I thought I need to do something, and I thought, ‘Shall I start writing?’” he told BBC. “I didn’t think I had a book in me, I just thought I’d write some stories. And I found it increasingly engrossing.”
“A year later, not only have I written the book – I didn’t have a ghostwriter – but it’s come out in record time,” he added.
Sam added that he never intended to write a book but started doing so as he had nothing else to do.
“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,” he explained.
“And so it was a lifesaver really, because I couldn’t have gone through that with nothing to do, you know.”
The actor is now in remission but must continue the chemotherapy medication for the rest of his life.
The Peaky Blinders further said that he is not afraid to die but would love to live more for at least one or two decades.
“I’m not afraid to die. But it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know?” he said in his interview with BBC.
“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.”
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Sources: The Guardian – BBC
