Complex sentence: In late 1997 Friels was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and almost died, however his treatment was successful and he is one of the very, very few victims of this disease to go into long-term remission.
Split into simpler sentences: In late 1997 Friels was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and almost died. However, his treatment was successful and he is one of the very, very few victims of this disease to go into long-term remission.