Soap star Ian's fight with 'brutal' cancer

NEIGHBOURS star Ian Smith says his terminal cancer diagnosis is cruel, ugly and brutal - but his medical team is "somehow" keeping him alive.

- By Charlotte McLaughlin

Ian, 86, who played lovable but blundering ex-cafe owner Harold Bishop in the Australian soap, revealed last year that he had pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma, a rare form of lung cancer.

Speaking yesterday, grandfather Ian said when he was diagnosed he was in a "space" where "no one is there to help you", even if they try. He added: "It's a cruel, ugly, brutal place...and I don't know how, but it looks like I'm having the best luck in the world with defeating this cancer."

Gruelling