Dave Coulier triumphs over cancer: A story of resilience
Dave Coulier, an actor from "Full House," lost his mother and two sisters to cancer. He didn't expect to become ill himself. He has now decided to speak publicly about his experiences during chemotherapy.
As we reported in November last year, Dave Coulier, a popular actor from the cult series "Full House," discovered he was at stage 3 of non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma. The diagnosis followed an upper respiratory tract infection that caused a notable enlargement of his lymph nodes, with one area swelling to the size of a golf ball. Today, he has completely different news for his fans.
Dave Coulier beat cancer
The 65-year-old actor learned about his stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma five months ago. Now, he can celebrate beating the disease. In an interview with "eOnline," Coulier admitted that he was optimistic before the official announcement of his test results. "Melissa and I waited for a week to get the biopsy results back, and there is no sign of cancer," he said in the interview. "One of the few times in my life when 'zero' has been a great number to hear," the actor said.
Coulier also gave an extensive interview to "Parade," in which he described what he went through in recent months. He underwent six rounds of chemotherapy, which took a heavy toll on him. "The symptoms were getting worse and worse with each treatment. So neuropathy, which I hadn’t experienced before, started to increase. Nausea started to increase. Dizziness started to increase. They call it chemo brain, where you’re a bit foggy — that started to increase. My days of being able to get up and walk around and be active started to decrease," he recounts.
His wife helped him fight cancer, having cared for his ailing father just a few years ago. "The last thing I thought [was that] I was gonna be caregiving for Dave next," she told "Parade."
Coulier has survived many hardships in his life. His mother died of breast cancer at the age of 82 in 2014. Then his sisters passed away—36-year-old Sharon and 29-year-old Shannon. Both had breast cancer. His father died in 2022, and shortly after, his brother Dan took his own life just before his 59th birthday. The actor's older sister, Karen, is also battling cancer.
Although family members carry the BRCA1 gene, responsible for the development of cancer in the body, everyone believed it was primarily a concern for women and that Dave would not get cancer. After the fifth round of chemotherapy, Dave felt so poorly that he and his wife discussed what would happen if he couldn't make it. "He was like, ‘I’m prepared either way. If I die, I die. And if I can stay here, great. I want to'," the wife recalls.
Today, Coulier shows no signs of cancer. He admits that he does not feel "cursed" by the family's history of illnesses but rather privileged, as he believes that by raising awareness of his case, other people might also be saved in time.
