Dave Coulier, the beloved “Full House” star known for his role as Joey Gladstone, recently faced a terrifying health scare. Just after completing his final round of chemotherapy, Coulier was rushed to the hospital due to a virus that doctors feared could have been life-threatening if not detected in time.
In a recent interview with Parade, the 65-year-old actor shared how his health took a sudden turn. He explained that he began feeling very ill, but initially couldn’t understand what was wrong. “I started to get pretty sick,” Coulier recalled. “I didn’t know that I had caught a virus. I was in bed for about 10 days just trying to figure out, ‘Do I have a cold? Am I just feeling the ramifications of this cumulative effect of the chemo? What is going on?’”
Coulier went on to explain that doctors discovered he had developed a condition called ground-glass opacity (GGO), a sign of something abnormal appearing on his lung scan. GGO appears as particles that look like glass, a situation that can wreak havoc on the body, especially when a patient’s immune system is already weakened by chemotherapy. His symptoms, combined with the GGO, caused his doctors to worry about the potentially fatal consequences if the virus wasn’t caught in time.
Had Coulier not gone in for a check-up when he did, his doctors said they might not have been able to reverse the effects of the virus. “We might not have been able to turn this around,” Coulier said, emphasizing how crucial it was for him to seek medical attention when he did.
Coulier’s battle with cancer started in October, when he was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The diagnosis came after he experienced severe swelling in his lymph nodes, which led to an upper respiratory infection.
He recalled the moment when the news hit him: “Three days later, my doctors called me back, and they said, ‘We wish we had better news for you, but you have non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and it’s called B-cell, and it’s very aggressive,'” Coulier told People magazine.
In that moment, Coulier’s world was turned upside down. “I went from, ‘I got a little bit of a head cold’ to ‘I have cancer,’ and it was pretty overwhelming,” he shared. “This has been a really fast roller-coaster ride of a journey.”
B-cell lymphoma is one of the most common and aggressive forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for the majority of cases. According to the American Cancer Society, over 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma every year.
Coulier’s battle with cancer has been a long, emotional road. After completing his fifth round of chemotherapy, the actor received some hopeful news from his doctors: there were no signs of remaining cancer cells. However, despite the positive update, Coulier’s wife, Melissa, revealed that their conversations often took a serious and emotional tone.
“After [the fifth round of] chemo, he was like, ‘I don’t know if I could do this again,’” Melissa shared. “He was like, ‘I’m prepared either way. If I die, I die. And if I can stay here, great. I want to.’ Those conversations were obviously so tough.”
Despite the tough conversations, Coulier remained hopeful, and his doctors continued aggressive treatment to ensure his cancer would not return. “They carpet-bombed me for three more treatments after that, and they’re not expecting to see anything [further],” he explained, sharing his relief as the treatment progressed.
Throughout this harrowing journey, Coulier has remained open about his experience. He recalled his first reaction to the cancer diagnosis: “The first thing I said to them was, ‘Wait a minute — cancer?’” He admitted feeling like he had been “punched in the stomach” upon hearing the news, as cancer is something that always seems to happen to someone else, not to him.
Although Coulier’s health battle has been tough, he continues to press on with support from his loved ones, including his wife and children. His story is a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit, the importance of timely medical care, and the strength of family and friends in overcoming life’s toughest challenges.
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