Dave Coulier is cancer-free again, and the timing matters. On World Cancer Day, Wednesday, Feb. 4, the 66-year-old actor and comedian shared that he’s officially in remission after facing two separate cancer diagnoses in less than two years. If you grew up with Full House reruns looping in the background, this news hits harder than expected.
During an appearance on Good Morning America, Coulier didn’t sugarcoat the experience. “It’s been a roller coaster ride for sure,” he said. “I’m in remission with both cancers. And what a journey this has been.” He wasn’t exaggerating. Less than a year earlier, doctors had cleared him of Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Then, during a routine six-month checkup and PET scan, they spotted something else. A flare-up where his tongue meets his throat led to a diagnosis of p16 squamous carcinoma, a head and neck cancer unrelated to the first.
When he spoke to PEOPLE in December, Coulier admitted he was “in shock.” He assumed the tumor connected to lymphoma. It wasn’t. That scan, though, changed everything. “It turns out, if I hadn’t had that PET scan, then they wouldn’t have had this early of a detection and I’d have been in […] a world of pain soon,” he said. Gratitude isn’t always logical. He still found it. The first cancer helped uncover the second.
Watch the clip below.
Treatment came fast. Robotic surgery to biopsy his tongue. Thirty-five rounds of targeted radiation through Dec. 31. Radiation, he explained, messes with your head as much as your body. “It can steal parts of your life away from you, psychologically, emotionally and certainly physically,” Coulier told Robin Roberts. His response stayed simple. Laugh. Keep loved ones close. Don’t let cancer take more than it already has.
His wife, Melissa Bring, stayed by his side. So did his Full House brother, John Stamos, who flew to Michigan and showed up wearing a bald cap. Coulier dropped to the floor laughing. They later caught COVID and communicated with walkie talkies like bored kids. Grown men. Zero shame.
Now in remission, Coulier hopes his story pushes you to stay on top of checkups. “I feel as though I can help people,” he said. “I never wanted to be the poster boy for cancer, believe me. But now I feel like I can encourage people to get those prostate exams and mammograms.” Cancer still sits in his rear-view mirror. Early detection keeps it there.
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