‘Full House’ Dave Coulier Reveals Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Diagnosis: EXCLUSIVE

Dave Coulier announced exclusively on the TODAY show that he has been diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that starts in the lymphatic system.

The “Fuller House” star, who famously played Uncle Joey, noticed his first symptoms just over a month ago when he came down with a cold. In the past, he had noticed that the lymph nodes in his neck or armpits would swell when he was sick. This time, however, he was surprised to discover a lump the size of a golf ball in his groin within a week of becoming ill.

“It swelled up right away,” Coulier, 65, told TODAY.com in a phone interview. “I thought, ‘Wow, either I’m really sick or my body is really reacting to something’.”

Concerned, he visited his doctors, who ran a variety of tests, including blood tests, EKGs, and PET and CT scans. While everything appeared to be normal, the doctors biopsied the lymph node just in case. Coulier soon found out why his lymph node was so enlarged.

“(My doctors) said, ‘Hey, we wish we had better news, but you have non-Hodgkin lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma,'” Coulier recalls. “It was a shock.”

Despite his cancer diagnosis, Coulier still finds joy in life.

“My joke is that in four short weeks I’ve gone from a virgin to a cancer,” he says. “I’ve tried to keep a sense of reality but also a sense of humor about it.”

Dave Coulier diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma

When Coulier felt the weather a little over a month ago and noticed a swollen lymph node in his groin, he felt confused.

“The onset of this growing lymphoma in my growing area was very fast. So I said, ‘Something’s wrong,'” he recalled to Hoda during his Nov. 13 appearance on TODAY.

Coulier visited his doctor, who ordered a series of tests.

“They said, ‘Yes, we have to take a serious look at this.’ And then we took blood tests,” he says. “Blood tests came back good. My EKG, everything great. Heart, everything perfect.”

But his doctors felt concerned about how quickly the lump was growing and ordered more advanced imaging before eventually wanting a sample of it for testing.

“‘We want to either remove this or biopsy that,'” Coulier recalls his doctors telling him. “I said, ‘Well, why don’t we remove it and biopsy it at the same time?'”

Three days later, Coulier received the news from his doctor that he had B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in B lymphocytes, according to American Cancer Society. B-cell lymphomas account for the vast majority of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Each year, more than 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“The first thing I said to them was, ‘Wait a minute — cancer?'” he Coulier. “(I) felt like I got punched in the stomach because it never happens to you. You always hear about it happening to someone else.”

Hearing the news was even harder because his wife, Melissa Coulier, wasn’t home.

“I was just thinking, ‘How am I going to tell her?'” he says. “Of course when I told her she thought I was joking.”

After he assured her he wasn’t kidding, Melissa “organized (his) whole life, from nutrition to doctor’s appointments to the pills.”

“She has things color-coded,” he says. “That’s pretty good.”

To understand what stage of cancer he had, Coulier’s doctors took a bone marrow sample.

“They wanted to see if (the cancer had) moved on to any major organs or my blood or bones or something,” he says. “It was pins and needles for a few days because I didn’t know what stage it was or if it had progressed.”

Still, at some point Coulier began to feel a kind of acceptance.

“I told Melissa I don’t know why, but I (am) okay with whatever the news (is) going to be, no matter how devastating. … I can’t explain where it came from,” he says. “I’ve had a incredible life. I have had the most amazing people in my life. It has been an extraordinary journey and I am OK if this is the end of the journey.”

A few days later, he found out he had stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma survival rate

Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma means that the cancer has not spread outside the lymphatic system, according to the American Cancer Society. The five-year survival rate for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has not spread much is about 74%, per ACS.

“(Stage 3) doesn’t sound good,” Coulier says, but because it hasn’t spread to his bone marrow, doctors told him his cure rate is up to 90%.

“It’s very treatable,” he said today.

Starting chemotherapy

Doctors wanted Coulier to start chemotherapy right away, and he underwent another surgery to have his chemotherapy port, which delivers the medicine, placed.

Before her first treatment, Coulier faced her fear of the unknown of cancer.

“You hear chemo and it scares the living daylights out of you,” he says. “The first round was quite intense because you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you want to feel. Will it hit me right away? Is it going to be devastating? Shall I leave here?”

He was doing better than expected after his first round of chemotherapy. In total, he will have six rounds every 21 days and should finish the treatment in February 2025. After the treatment, he expects a “total remission.”

“It has been a bit of a roller coaster. There (are) days when I feel incredible,” he says. “Then there are other days when … I just want to lay down and let this be what it is.”

Still, he’s been able to maintain a positive outlook as he navigates treatment.

“This is a journey,” Coulier told Hoda. “This is a bit of a battle and you’re going to have to be on your game.”

When Coulier is feeling good, he takes advantage. He has recorded episodes of the podcast “Full House Rewind” with his new co-host Marla Sokoloff, who played Gia Mahan on “Full House” and “Fuller House.” And he recently skated with the Detroit Red Wings alumni — even though he can’t play hockey because it could damage his chemotherapy port. At the end of this week, John Stamos will visit him after his second round of chemotherapy.

“We’re going to have so many laughs. We’re going to have so much fun,” Coulier says. “I said, ‘It could be ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ if I’m just out of it.’ And (Stamos) said, ‘It’s okay. I’ll carry you around.”

Increased attention

Unfortunately, Coulier has plenty of experience with cancer.

“I lost my sister Sharon at 36 to breast cancer. I lost my niece Shannon at 29, breast cancer,” he says. “I lost my mother and now my sister Karen has cancer. So over the years I have seen what the women in my family have gone through and it has not only been an awakening but a learning process.”

Although it has been hard to see cancer affect his family so dramatically, the actor has grown from it.

“When I was diagnosed, all those memories came back of what they went through and so many hospital visits and sitting at the bedside and talking and having conversations and watching them leave the planet,” he says. “What they went through is 10 times harder than what I’m going through. So if I can be a tenth as strong as they were, I’ll be fine.”

Coulier is looking forward to the future. His son, Luc, and his wife, Alex, are expecting a baby boy in March, and Coulier is excited about becoming a grandfather and expects many flights from Michigan to Los Angeles to spend time with his family.

Coulier felt compelled to share her story to raise awareness of cancer and encourage others to undergo screening for it.

“The one thing that just kept presenting itself to me was telling other people about it. Talk to them about getting something as simple as a pre-screening or a breast exam, mammogram, a colonoscopy or a prostate exam,” he says. “It’s a very simple thing to do, and it can add years to your life.”