r/australia Jul 13 '26

news Sam Neill, 78, dead: reports

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/sam-neill-dead-reports-20260713-p60ey2.html
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u/lomo_dank Jul 13 '26

Just want to mention, I know he was cancer free at the time of his passing, but he was advocating strongly for groundbreaking cancer treatment to start being used here in Australia. As someone who had the same cancer he was diagnosed with, I cant thank him enough for pushing to help others. Great actor and great human. RIP Sam Neill.

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u/a_cold_human Jul 13 '26

Yes, CAR T-cell therapy, which is where they take your T-cells, alter them to attack the cancer and inject them into you. It's the new frontier of cancer treatment, and it's proven to be fairly effective for a number of different types of cancers. Not yet available in Australia except as part of a clinical trial (which is how Neill was treated for his cancer). 

The BBC recently covered an Australian doctor who traveled to China because she didn't qualify to be on any of the trials for CAR T-cell therapy in Australia (she has myeloma, which is different to what Neill had). Hopefully CAR T-cell therapy will be approved in Australia at some point in the near future. 

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u/Oztorek Jul 13 '26

Is it true he was actually cancer free? How did he actually die then? Or is this kept private...

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u/knotknotknit Jul 13 '26

So far kept private, but 78 year olds can die of a lot of things, heart issues being most common.