British actor Simon MacCorkindale said he was diagnosed with bowel cancer more than three years ago and it has since become terminal.

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The 57-year-old actor, who held the role of Harry Harper in the BBC series "Casualty," told The Sunday Telegraph while he was initially diagnosed in 2006, he and his wife, actress Susan George, decided to keep his condition a secret.

MacCorkindale said while his doctors were initially optimistic regarding the surgical possibilities of hindering the disease, he learned a year later his cancer spread to his lungs and was terminal.

"The news hit me like a sledgehammer because right up to that point, I thought I had beaten bowel cancer and it was all done and dusted," he said.

MacCorkindale told the Telegraph while doctors estimate he may have only three years left to live, he intends to prove them wrong by fighting the disease.

"I don't want people to think that I'm pale, losing my hair, losing weight and on the way out. I'm not. I'm as active as I've ever been," said the actor, who is receiving a six-month course of chemotherapy.