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Dave Coulier arrives at 30th Annual Scleroderma Benefit at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on June 16, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California© Getty

Full House star Dave Coulier, 65, reveals he has 'very aggressive' stage 3 cancer

The actor also shared that he is simultaneously gearing up to become a grandfather for the first time

Beatriz Colon
Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
November 13, 2024
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Dave Coulier has a difficult battle ahead, but he is hopeful. The actor, beloved for his role as Joey Gladstone on Full House, has announced that he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

He has stage 3 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which per the Mayo Clinic, "is a type of cancer that begins in your lymphatic system, which is part of the body's germ-fighting immune system," which causes "white blood cells called lymphocytes [to] grow abnormally and can form growths (tumors) throughout the body."

Speaking with People about his diagnosis and how it came to be, he shared that he was diagnosed last month, after an upper respiratory infection caused major swelling in his lymph nodes.

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He was then advised to undergo PET and CT scans after doctors noticed one of the areas increasingly swelling "to the size of a golf ball."

"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 said.

"I went from, I got a little bit of a head cold to I have cancer, and it was pretty overwhelming," he added, admitting: "This has been a really fast roller coaster ride of a journey."

Dave Coulier (R) and his Wife Melissa Bring (L) attend the TV Land Icon Awards at The Barker Hanger on April 10, 2016 in Santa Monica, California© Getty
Dave and his wife in 2016

"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."

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Still, he quickly jumped into action, and further shared: "We all kind of put our heads together and said, 'Okay, where are we going?' And they had a very specific plan for how they were going to treat this."

Pictured, from left: Dave Coulier (Joey), Andrea Barber (Kimmy), John Stamos (Jesse), Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit (Nicky), Lori Loughlin (Rebecca), Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie), Bob Saget (Danny), Ashley Olsen (Michelle), Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit (Alex), Candace Cameron (D.J.), Scott Weinger (Steve) on Full House, 1993© Getty
The Full House crew in 1993

Dave has been married to wife Melissa Bring since 2014, and he shares son Luc — who will be 34 tomorrow, and is expecting his first child, a son, in March — with ex-wife Jayne Modean, to whom he was married from 1990 to 1992.

MORE: Bob Saget talks mortality and losing loved ones in newly-released clip from one of his final interviews

Andrea Barber, Dave Coulier and Candace Cameron Bure attend 90s Con at Ocean Center on September 14, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida© Getty
the actor with his co-stars Andrea Barber and Candace Cameron Bure earlier this year

The Fuller House star added that at the very least, his bone marrow test came back negative, and noted: "At that point, my chances of curable went from something low to 90% range. And so that was a great day."

He has already started chemotherapy, and though he only disclosed news of his diagnosis now, he already shaved his head some weeks ago as a "preemptive strike."

"I have my good days. I have my bad days," he went on, further detailing: "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."

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