“Full House” star Dave Coulier revealed that he has cancer during a Wednesday appearance on NBC’s Today show.
Coulier, 65, told host Hoda Kotb that he was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma five weeks ago. Since then, he’s had three surgeries, one round of chemo, and “lost a little bit of hair.”
“It has been a rollercoaster ride, for sure,” he said.
The actor said he first noticed his symptoms when he got a cold, and a slight swelling of his lymph nodes in his groin area grew to the size of a golf ball within five days. The unusually rapid growth of the swelling prompted doctors to take additional tests.
After CT scans, Coulier was told that he had a “very aggressive” type of lymphoma and required chemotherapy. The scans also revealed a second cancer hotspot in his neck.
When Coulier returned home and told his wife he had cancer, she at first thought he was joking. The moment he assured her it was true, was also the moment the gravity of the situation got through to him.
“Once that settled in, it was a gut punch,” he said.
However, Coulier was facing another hurdle—a bone marrow sample was taken to determine what stage the cancer was in.
“We got good news that day,” Coulier said, “once we got the results that it hadn’t spread.”
The actor said his curability rating was over 90 percent.
Coulier said he started chemo two weeks into his diagnosis, and was due for his next chemo treatment on Friday, with his last treatment scheduled for February.
“You hear chemo, and it scares the daylights out of you,” he said. “The first round was pretty intense because you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you’re going to feel. Is this going to hit me immediately? Is it going to be devastating? Am I going to walk out of here?”
Coulier said he “pre-emptively” cut his hair short. “I fit better in my hockey helmet now,” he said, referring to his favorite sport.
He encouraged viewers to get regular cancer screenings and thanked his wife Melissa for her incredible support.
From 1987 to 1995, Dave Coulier played Joey Gladstone in the popular sitcom “Full House,” one of two uncles living under the roof of single father Danny Tanner, played by the late Bob Saget.
Together, the gentlemen try to raise Tanner’s three daughters, DJ, Stephanie, and little Michelle, played by both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, to the best of their abilities.
In 2016, the series launched a successful spinoff on Netflix called “Fuller House,” which ran for four seasons.
In addition to his podcast “Full House Rewind,” Coulier is also active behind the scenes; he is currently co-writing a new series called “Doctor Dave.”