The 60-year-old actor has children Jack, 24, and Mercedes, 28, from his marriage to ex-wife Joanne Whalley and when Val was diagnosed with throat cancer, he originally planned to pray with his Christian Science practitioner so his body would no longer "manifest outwardly what can be diagnosed as a malady".
However, Val's children are not Christian Scientists and they convinced him to also have medical treatment for his condition.
He told the New York Times newspaper: "[I had the ] suggestion of throat cancer." [In Christian Science], "the idea is rather than say I have it or possess it, there is a claim, there's a suggestion that this is a fact".
He added: "I just didn't want to experience their fear, which was profound. I would've had to go away, and I just didn't want to be without them."
Val previously denied having cancer and explained: "[People] said I was denying that I had cancer, and when they asked me, I didn't have cancer. It was a bit like do you have a broken bone? And if you broke it in high school, you would say no. Suddenly suspect. I have had a bone broken, but why are you being so aggressive? I had a bone broken. It was broken in my leg. 'Oh, so you have a broken leg.' 'No, no, I don't,' I say. I did have a broken leg.
"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. I prayed, and that was my form of treatment."
Val currently uses a tracheostomy tube and believes that prayer was the true treatment for his illness, while the medical intervention is what has hurt him.
He explained: "That's from radiation and chemotherapy. It's not from cancer. That 'treatment' caused my suffering."
And thanks to his Christian Science faith, Val has no fear of death.
He explained: "Someone comes up to you and says you have only four months to live, and the concept of time is a human one. So, if you describe the divine concept of time, there is no time."
