Dave Coulier Was Diagnosed With Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Dave Coulier has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The Full House star told People that he was diagnosed last month after "an upper respiratory infection caused major swelling in his lymph nodes."
Dave portrayed Joey Gladstone for eight seasons on the '80s/'90s sitcom Full House and reprised his role in the 2016 Netflix sequel series Fuller House for five seasons.
Bob D'amico / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images, Mike Yarish / ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection
According to the publication, the swelling increased rapidly, and his doctor advised positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scans, and a biopsy that led to the news of his condition.
"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,'" Dave said.
"I went from, I got a little bit of a head cold to I have cancer, and it was pretty overwhelming," he said. "This has been a really fast roller coaster ride of a journey."
According to the American Cancer Society, non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that starts in white blood cells (lymphocytes), a part of the body's immune system that helps fight infections and diseases and helps fluids move through the body. While lymph nodes are typically bean-sized, Dave had one area that grew to the size of a golf ball.
After learning his diagnosis, Dave said that he and his wife, Melissa Bring, and his close friends in medicine worked together to meet the diagnosis "head-on."
Dave and Melissa were married on July 2, 2014, in Paradise Valley, Montana, where all his former costars, including John Stamos, Candace Cameron Bure, Andrea Barber, Bob Saget, and Full House creator Jeff Franklin, were in attendance.
"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," Dave said, sharing with the publication they were optimistic when his bone marrow test came back negative. "At that point, my chances of curable went from something low to 90% range. And so that was a great day."
On Nov. 13, during an episode of his podcast Full House Rewind with Marla Sokoloff (who played Gia on Full House), Dave opened up more about his experience.
@FullHouseRewind / youtu.be
"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," Dave said. "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."
@FullHouseRewind / youtu.be
Dave has chosen to maintain a positive outlook for his family, especially his wife Melissa 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."
Several members of Dave's family also went through cancer, which he shared as inspiration for how to navigate the process. "I lost my mom to breast cancer. I lost my sister Sharon to breast cancer. She was 36 years old. I lost my niece, Shannon. She was 29 years old," he said, including that his sister Karen is going through cancer as well.
"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 added.
"[Karen] was a registered nurse, and so she's seen this from different optics than I have," Dave described. "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.'"
Dave's family's experiences with cancer are what prepared him for what's to come. "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 okay with this, too.' I've had an incredible life on a journey with incredible people around me, and I'm okay. It does change perspective for sure."
"I have my good days. I have my bad days," Dave continued. "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."
In sharing his stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, Dave hopes it will inspire people to get tested. "Take great care of yourself, because there's a lot to live for," he advises fans. "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."
Watch the episode of Full House Rewind with Marla Sokoloff here:
