Italian
Full House star Dave Coulier has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The actor and comedian told People magazine that he was diagnosed in October after an upper respiratory infection caused swelling in his lymph nodes, leading his doctor to advise that he get PET and CT scans and a biopsy.
“Three days later, my doctors called me back and they said, ‘We wish we had better news for you, but you have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it’s called B cell and it’s very aggressive,’” he recalled in his People interview.
He added, “I went from, I got a little bit of a head cold to I have cancer, and it was pretty overwhelming. This has been a really fast roller coaster ride of a journey.”
The 65-year-old played Joey Gladstone on the hit ABC sitcom Full House from 1987-95 and reprised the role for Netflix’s Fuller House, which ran from 2016-20.
After his diagnosis, Coulier quickly joined forces with close friends in medicine and his wife to meet the cancer “head-on,” sharing that his bone marrow test has come back negative, “At that point, my chances of curable went from something low to 90 percent range. And so that was a great day.”
He told NBC News’ Today show that he’s had three surgeries since he was diagnosed five weeks ago and told Today and People he has already begun chemotherapy, with the chemo treatments expected to wrap in February, he told Today.
“Should be total remission by that time. Fingers crossed,” Coulier told Today. “I’m treating this as a journey. If I can help someone who’s watching today get an early screening — a breast exam, a colonoscopy, a prostate exam — go do it because, for me, early detection meant everything.”
While he told Today that he “lost a little bit of hair,” he revealed to People that he shaved his head as a “preemptive strike.”
“I kind of look like a little baby bird now,” he added on Today.
Coulier sported a hat on the YouTube video version of Wednesday’s Full House Rewind podcast, which he co-hosts with Marla Sokoloff, where he opened up further about his diagnosis.
“I started the podcast wearing a hat, and I said, I’ve always been a man of many hats, but this hat has special significance because a couple of weeks ago, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” he told People. “That was really a conscious decision of, I’m going to meet this head-on, and I want people to know it’s my life. I’m not going to try and hide anything. I would rather talk about it and open the discussion and inspire people.”
Coulier said he is trying to keep a positive outlook amid his diagnosis, particularly for his wife and son Luc, who is expecting his first child.
“I looked at how those words affected [Melissa] and I thought, you know what, I’m going to be strong throughout this, not just for me, but I’m going to be strong for her,” he said to People.
Coulier has been taking inspiration from family members who also went through cancer, he told People, including his mom and sister Sharon, who both died of breast cancer, and his older sister Karen, whom he has been leaning on as they fight cancer together.
“I saw what those women in my family went through, and I thought to myself, ‘If I can be just 1/10th of a percent as strong as they were, then I’m going to be just fine,” he said.
Of his bond with Karen, Coulier said, “My sister was a registered nurse, and so she’s seen this from different optics than I have. She’s been so supportive and she’s funny. So we’re making jokes about this. One of my jokes is in four short weeks I’ve gone from a Virgo to a Cancer. I’m a huge hockey fan. So when they said ‘You’ve got NHL,’ I thought, ‘I finally made it to the NHL.’”
And Coulier said he’s “remarkably calm” with whatever happens.
“When I first got the news, I was stunned, of course, because I didn’t expect it, and then reality settled in and I found myself remarkably calm with whatever the outcome was going to be,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there was an inner calm about all of it, and I think that that’s part of what I’ve seen with the women in my family go through. They really instilled that in me and inspired me in a way because they were magnificent going through what they went through, and I just thought, ‘I’m OK with this, too.’ I’ve had an incredible life on a journey with incredible people around me and I’m OK. It does change perspective, for sure.”
For now, he’s dealing with daily ups and downs.
“I have my good days. I have my bad days,” he said. “Some days are nauseous and dizzy, and then there’s other days where the steroids kick in, and I feel like I have a ton of energy. I actually skated yesterday with some friends here in Detroit. We just went and skated around and shot pucks, and it was wonderful just to be out there doing something that I love and just trying to stay focused on all the great stuff that I have in my life.”
He added that he hopes he can inspire others to get tested early: “Take great care of yourself, because there’s a lot to live for. And if that means talking with your doctors or getting a mammogram or a breast exam or colonoscopy, it can really make a big change in your life.”
In January 2022, Full House star Bob Saget died unexpectedly, with the cause later revealed to be head trauma.
