NEW YORK — Dave Coulier, an actor and comedian who found fame as Uncle Joey on “Full House,” has revealed he has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer.
Coulier shared the news Wednesday during an interview on “Today.” He told the show’s co-anchor Hoda Kotb that he was diagnosed five weeks ago.
“In that time I’ve had three surgeries, I’ve had chemo, I’ve lost a little bit of hair,” he said, patting his head. “I kind of look like a baby bird now, but it has been a rollercoaster ride, for sure.”
Coulier said he has “B cell lymphoma,” which he described as “aggressive.”
“The onset of this growing lymphoma in my groin area was very quick so I said ‘Something’s not right, I have a golf ball down here,’” he told Kotb. “And so we biopsed it, we took it out, and they said ‘You know, we wish we had better news for you, but you have B cell lymphoma, we need to get you into chemotherapy right away.’”
According to the American Cancer Society, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is one of the most common cancers in the US, accounting for about 4% of all cancers.
The actor said he was home alone when he received the news, and when he told his wife, Melissa, that the tests had found cancer, she told him to “quit making jokes.” Then, there was the hurdle of finding out the stage of the cancer.
Fortunately, Coulier said, a test of his bone marrow showed it had not spread.
“At that point the curability rate went up to 90 plus percent, so it’s very treatable,” he said.
After fighting off a cold, Coulier said the swelling in his groin grew rapidly within five days. While his blood work was good, he said scans showed “hot spots” in his neck and groin.
The star said he’s had one round of chemotherapy so far, with another coming up this week. He joked about preemptively cutting his hair, which allows him to fit in his hockey helmet better and makes him “more aerodynamic on the ice.”
The devout hockey player and fan is staying as active and positive as possible with the expectation that he will be in full remission by the time he completes treatment in February.
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