“Full House” star Dave Coulier has “very treatable” stage 3 cancer

“Full House” star Dave Coulier, who played the Tanner family’s crazy Uncle Joey, has cancer.

The 65-year-old publicly announced his diagnosis on Wednesday, telling People and appearing on NBC’s “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 The Times’ request 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 increased 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 revealed it was cancer.

“[M]”Your 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-cell lymphoma and it’s very aggressive,'” he told People. “I got a bit of a cold and then got cancer and it was pretty overwhelming.”

According to the American Cancer Society, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma develops in B lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s immune system and account for the majority of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. More than 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year, and the 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 made light of his prediction during his “Today” sit-down with host Hoda Kotb.

“My joke is that I went from a Virgo to a Cancer in four short weeks,” he quipped. “I tried to keep 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.

“[Stage 3] “Doesn’t sound great,” Coulier said, pointing out that the cure rate is over 90%. “It’s very treatable.”

The “Robot Chicken” and “American Dad!” voice actor has already undergone surgery to place a chemotherapy port and facilitate treatment. He began chemotherapy two weeks after his diagnosis and is expected to undergo six rounds 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 you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you’ll feel. Will this affect me immediately? Will it be devastating? Am I going to walk out of here?”

“It was kind of a roller coaster ride. There [are] Days when I feel incredible,” he added. “Then there are other days when… I just lay down and let it be what it is going to be.”

“The Real Ghostbusters” alum said he lost at least three family members to cancer, including his mother and sister. He hoped sharing his story would encourage people to undergo screening or other tests to detect the presence of cancer, saying: “It’s really easy and can add years to your life.”

Despite no longer being able to play his beloved hockey, Coulier 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’s also expecting a visit from his longtime 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 “Fuller House.” But instead of 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 taught the Tanner girls life lessons using the catchphrase “Cut it out” and a puppet.

The situation comedy, which ran for eight seasons from 1987 to 1995, also starred Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, Lori Loughlin, Andrea Barber and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.