'Full House's' Dave Coulier Reveals Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Diagnosis: EXCLUSIVE

Dave Coulier revealed exclusively on the TODAY show that he has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that begins in the lymphatic system.

The Fuller House star, who famously played the role of Uncle Joey, first noticed his 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 immediately,” Coulier, 65, tells TODAY.com in a phone interview. “I thought, 'Wow, I'm either really sick or my body is really reacting to something.'”

Concerned, he visited his doctors, who conducted various tests, including blood tests, EKG, and PET and CT scans. Although everything seemed normal, doctors performed a biopsy of the lymph node for safety reasons. Coulier soon learned why his lymph node was so enlarged.

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

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

“My joke is that I went from a Virgo to a Cancer in four short weeks,” he says. “I tried to keep a sense of reality, but also a sense of humor.”

Dave Coulier was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma

When Coulier began feeling unwell a little over a month ago and noticed a swollen lymph node in his groin, he was confused.

“This growing lymphoma in my groin appeared very quickly. So I said, 'Something's wrong,'” Hoda recalled during his Nov. 13 appearance on TODAY.

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

“They said, 'Yeah, we need to look at this seriously.' And so we did blood tests,” he says. “The blood test results were great. My EKG, everything is great. Warm, everything perfect.”

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

“'We'd like to either remove it or biopsy it,'” Coulier remembers his doctors telling him. “I said, 'Why don't we just remove it and do a biopsy at the same time?'”

Three days later, Coulier received news from his doctor that he had B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in B lymphocytes, according to the 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?'” Coulier said. “(I felt) like I got punched in the gut because that never happens to you. You always hear about it happening to someone else.”

Hearing the news was even harder because his wife, Melissa Coulier, was not home.

“I was just thinking about it: 'How am I going to tell her?'” he says. “When I told her, of course she thought I was joking.”

After he assured her he wasn't joking, Melissa “organized his entire life, from diet to doctor's appointments to pills.”

“She color-coded things,” he says. “It’s really great.”

To understand what stage of cancer he was in, Coulier's doctors took a bone marrow sample.

“They wanted to see if (the cancer) had spread to major organs or my blood or my bones or anything else,” he says. “It was a mystery for a few days because I didn’t know what stage it was at or if it had progressed.”

But at some point Coulier felt a kind of acceptance.

“I told Melissa that I don't know why, but I'm okay with whatever the news is, no matter how devastating it may be. … I can’t explain where it came from,” he says. “I had an incredible life. I had the greatest people in my life. This has been an extraordinary journey and I have no problem if this is the end of the journey.”

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

Survival rate of stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma

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

“(Stage 3) doesn’t sound good,” Coulier says, but since the disease hasn’t spread to his bone marrow, doctors told him his recovery rate is over 90%.

“It’s very treatable,” he told TODAY.

Start of chemotherapy

Doctors wanted Coulier to begin chemotherapy immediately, and he underwent further surgery to place his chemotherapy port that delivers the drug.

Leading up to his first treatment, Coulier had to face his fear of the unknown of cancer.

“You hear chemotherapy and it scares the crap out of you,” he says. “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?”

After his first round of chemotherapy, he felt better than expected. In total, he will have six visits every 21 days and treatment is expected to be completed by February 2025. After treatment, he expects a “complete remission.”

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