“Full House” star Dave Coulier, who played the Tanner family’s crazy Uncle Joey, is diagnosed with cancer.
The 65-year-old publicly announced his diagnosis on Wednesday People and appearance on NBC “Today” to confirm that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma five weeks earlier.
Representatives for Coulier did not immediately respond to Times requests for comment Wednesday.
The “Fuller House” actor said he was diagnosed with blood cancer in October after contracting an upper respiratory infection that caused severe swelling in his lymph nodes. The swelling grew quickly and a lump in his groin swelled to the size of a golf ball, he said. He asked his doctors to remove it and do a biopsy, which turned out to be cancerous.
“(My) doctors called me back and said, ‘We wish we had better news for you, but you have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it’s called B and it’s very aggressive,'” he told People. “I had cancer from a mild cold and it was pretty overwhelming.”
According to the study, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma arises in B cells, which are part of the body’s immune system and account for the majority of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. American Cancer Society. More than 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year five-year relative survival rate is 74%. This percentage can vary greatly depending on the type of lymphoma and the stage at which it was diagnosed and treated.
Coulier shed light on his prediction during his “Today” interview with host Hoda Kotb.
“My joke is that I went from a Virgo to a Cancer in four short weeks,” he joked. “I tried to maintain a sense of reality but also a sense of humor.”
As he, his wife Melissa and his doctors developed his treatment plan, he was relieved to learn that the cancer had not spread to his bone marrow.
“(Step 3) doesn’t sound good,” Coulier said, noting the cure rate is over 90%. “It’s very treatable.”
The “Robot Chicken” and “American Dad!” » The voice actor previously underwent surgery to place a chemotherapy port to make treatments easier. He began chemotherapy two weeks after his diagnosis and is expected to undergo six cycles every 21 days until February 2025. Afterwards, his doctors told him that he could expect a “complete remission.”
“You hear ‘chemo’ and it scares you,” Coulier told Kotb. “The first round was pretty intense because we don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you’ll feel. Will it hit me immediately? Will it be devastating? Will I get out of here?
“It was kind of a roller coaster ride. “There are days when I feel great,” he added. “Then there are other days when…I just sit back and let it happen.”
“The Real Ghostbusters” alum said he lost at least three family members to cancer, including his mother and sister. He hoped that sharing his story would encourage people to undergo screening or other tests to detect the presence of cancer, saying, “It’s a very simple thing and can add years to your life.” »
Even though Coulier has no longer been able to play the hockey he loves, he is looking forward to becoming a grandfather when his son gives birth to his first child and has continued recording episodes of the Full House Rewind podcast. He is also waiting for his long-time friend to visit Co-Star John Stamos later this week.
Coulier, Stamos and the late comedian Bob Saget played a trio of “Three Men and a Baby”-style fathers and uncles on the ABC sitcom “Full House” and its Netflix revival. “A fuller house.” But instead of having a baby, they raised a widower’s three young daughters and expanded their San Francisco home to accommodate the growing family. Coulier played Basement-dwelling Uncle Joey, a struggling stand-up comedian who used the catchphrase “Cut it out” and a puppet to teach the Tanner girls life lessons.
He also starred in the sitcom, which ran for eight seasons from 1987 to 1995 Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, Lori LoughlinAndrea Barber and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
