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Full House actor Dave Coulier has opened up about his recent cancer diagnosis.
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The comedian told People magazine that he was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that starts in the lymphatic system.
The 65-year-old star explained that complications from an upper respiratory infection in October led to swelling in his lymph nodes, which he said swelled to the size of a golf ball.
Coulier’s doctor recommended tests to determine the cause and three days later, he received the cancer diagnosis.
“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,’” he told the magazine.
“I went from ‘I got a little bit of a head cold’ to ‘I have cancer’ and it was pretty overwhelming,” Coulier continued.
He admitted to the Today show, “The first thing I said to them was, ‘Wait a minute — cancer?’ (I was) feeling like I got punched in the stomach because it never happens to you. You always hear about it happening to someone else.”
Coulier, best known for playing Uncle Joey on the hit sitcom, said that he, his wife Melissa Bring, and close friends in the medical field worked together to figure out a strong treatment plan for the actor.
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“We all kind of put our heads together and said, ‘OK, where are we going?’ And they had a very specific plan for how they were going to treat this,” he recalled, noting that a bone marrow test that came back negative for cancer was a bright spot in his diagnosis.
“At that point, my chances of curable went from something low to 90% range,” he added. “And so that was a great day.”
Coulier also shared with Today that he started the first of six chemotherapy treatments only two weeks after his initial diagnosis.
“You hear chemo, and it scares the daylights out of you,” he said.
“The first round was pretty intense because you don’t know what to expect,” he continued. “You don’t know how you’re going to feel. Is this going to hit me immediately? Is it going to be devastating? Am I going to walk out of here?”
Coulier said he felt better than expected after his first round of chemotherapy, and he should be finished with the treatment by February when he expects a “total remission.”
“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. There (are) days where I feel unbelievable,” he said. “Then there’s other days where … I’m just going to lay down and let this be what it’s going to be.”
He added: “This is a journey. This is a bit of a battle and you’re going to need to be on your game.”