Full House star Dave Coulier, who played played Uncle Joey on the hit television series, revealed that he has been diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Coulier told TODAY that he noticed his first symptoms a little over a month ago, after coming down with a cold, explaining that the lymph nodes in his neck or armpits would typically swell whenever he was sick, but suddenly, the swelling had gone to his groin, and was about the size of a golf ball.
“It swelled up immediately,” the actor told the outlet. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m either really sick, or my body’s really reacting to something.’”
He then went to his doctors, who ran several tests. While Coulier’s blood tests “came back great,” his doctors said they wanted to either “remove or biopsy” the lump in question so they could sample it for testing, the actor recalled.
Three days later, Coulier’s doctors told him, “Hey, we wish we had better news, but you have non-Hodgkin lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma,” the Fuller House star revealed.
B-cell lymphoma is a type of cancer that develops in B-lymphocytes, according to the American Cancer Society.
“The first thing I said to them was, ‘Wait a minute — cancer?’” Coulier recalled, adding that he felt “like I got punched in the stomach because it never happens to you. You always hear about it happening to someone else.”
After that, doctors conducted a bone marrow sample to see if the cancer had “moved on to any major organs or my blood or bones or anything,” Coulier explained. “That was pins and needles for a few days because I didn’t know what stage it was or if it had progressed.”
“I told Melissa [his wife] I don’t know why, but I’m okay with whatever the news [is] going to be no matter how devastating,” the Real Ghostbusters star told TODAY.
“I can’t explain where that came from,” he added. “I’ve had an incredible life. I’ve had the most amazing people in my life. This has been an extraordinary journey, and I’m OK if this is the end of the journey.”
A few days later, Coulier was told he had Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that starts in the lymphatic system.
While Stage 3 “doesn’t sound great,” Coulier explained that this type of cancer is “very treatable,” with his doctors telling him the curability rate is upwards of 90 percent. Notably, Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma means the cancer has not spread outside the lymphatic system.
Meanwhile, the survival rate for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that hasn’t been widely spread is around 74 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
As a result, Coulier’s doctors suggested he begin chemotherapy immediately.
“You hear chemo, and it scares the daylights out of you,” Coulier told TODAY. “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 added that he felt better that he had expected after his first round of chemotherapy. The actor will reportedly have a total of six rounds every 21 days and is expected to complete treatment by February 2025, at which points he anticipates a “total remission.”
“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster,” he said. “There [are] days where I feel unbelievable. Then there’s other days where — I’m just going to lay down and let this be what it’s going to be.”
“This is a journey,” Coulier added. “This is a bit of a battle and you’re going to need to be on your game.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
