Actor Dave Coulier revealed he has cancer in a shocking live announcement.
The Full House star, 65, told the Today show that she was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma five weeks ago.
He shared that he has been receiving treatment for the “aggressive” blood cancer, including three surgeries and chemotherapy.
“It’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride,” he said, while joking that he looked like a “little bird” due to hair loss as a result of his treatment.
The actor said he first became concerned when he noticed a “golf ball”-sized lump in his groin area that he initially attributed to a cold he was suffering from.
Actor Dave Coulier revealed he has cancer in shocking live announcement
However, the lump grew in a “matter of days”, prompting Coulier to seek a medical opinion.
Although his blood tests came back clear, doctors were concerned at how quickly the swelling had developed and sent him for further scans which revealed “hot spots” on his body.
Other tests performed on the lump also revealed that it was cancerous, Coulier said.
“We did a biopsy, took it out, and they told us, ‘I wish we had better news for you, but you have B-cell lymphoma, we have to put you on chemotherapy right away,'” he explained.
Coulier added that the situation progressed so quickly that at first his wife didn’t believe he really had cancer.
“Once that settled in, it was a punch in the gut,” Coulier said. “But there was still another hurdle, we had to find out what the staging was, so they went into my bone marrow and that day we got the good news that it hadn’t spread.”
The results mean the disease is more than 90 per cent treatable and Coulier hopes to be in remission by early next year.
However, the actor will need a second round of chemotherapy on Friday and the treatments will end in February.
He revealed that he shaved his head before the first round of chemotherapy.
“I did a little preemptive strike because I knew it was coming,” Coulier said.
The Full House star, 65, told the Today show that she was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma five weeks ago.
Coulier, pictured with his Full House castmates, has already undergone several surgeries and a round of chemotherapy.
“Now I fit better in my hockey helmet, I’m more aerodynamic on the ice,” he joked.
Coulier explained that despite his diagnosis, he is still “really very busy with things in life.”
“When I have to rest I listen to my body and when I need to step on the accelerator I do,” he said.
‘I’m treating this as a journey and if I can help someone watching get an early test (…) do it, for me early detection meant everything.’
Coulier praised his “incredible” wife of ten years, Melissa, a wellness expert, for helping him deal with the shock diagnosis.
“The refrigerator in my house is color-coded,” he explained. I even have one of those old plastic pill boxes. “She has been there every step of the way, she has been incredible.”
But her positive attitude has ultimately been the key to helping her manage the situation and she hopes to remain strong for Melissa and her son Luc, who is expecting his first child.
Coulier (center) said she became concerned after a “golf ball”-sized lump developed in her groin within days.
‘You can look at life in two ways, as the old saying goes: look at the glass half full. I think that helps a lot and how you go through something like this. This is a journey, it is a kind of battle.
“You’re going to have to stay focused, keep doing what you’re doing, keep laughing in life and keep your friends and family close.”
Coulier said People That cancer runs through her entire family, and the star lost her mother, her sister and her niece to breast cancer.
Her older sister, Karen, is also going through cancer right now.
“I saw what those women in my family went through and I thought, ‘If I can be just one-tenth of their strength, then I’ll be fine,'” she said.
Coulier is best known for his role as Joey Gladstone on Full House and the reboot, Fuller House, as well as hosting America’s Funniest People.