Dave Coulier announced exclusively on the TODAY show that he has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer that begins in the lymphatic system.

The ‘Fuller House’ star noticed his first symptoms a little over a month ago when he came down with a cold. In the past, he had noticed that the lymph nodes in his neck or armpits swelled when he was sick. This time, however, he was surprised to discover a lump the size of a golf ball in his groin within a week of becoming ill.

“It swelled up right away,” Coulier, 65, told TODAY.com in a phone interview. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m either really sick or my body is really reacting to something.'”

Worried, he visited his doctors who carried out various tests including blood tests, ECG and PET and CT scans. Although everything seemed normal, the doctors took a biopsy of the lymph node just to be sure. Coulier soon discovered why his lymph node became so enlarged.

“(My doctors) said, ‘Hey, we wish we had better news, but you have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma,’” Coulier recalls. “It was a shock.”

Despite his cancer diagnosis, Coulier still finds joy in life.

“My joke is that I went from a Virgo to a Cancer in four short weeks,” he says. “I’ve tried to keep a sense of reality, but also a sense of humor.”

Dave Coulier was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

When Coulier felt ill a little more than a month ago and noticed a swollen lymph node in his groin, he was puzzled and visited his doctor, who ordered a series of tests.

“They said, ‘Yes, we need to look at this seriously.’ And so we did blood tests,” he says. “Blood work was excellent. My ECG, everything great. Heart, everything perfect.”

But his doctors were concerned about the rate at which the lump was growing and ordered more advanced imaging before finally wanting a sample of it for testing.

“We want to remove this or biopsy it,” Coulier remembers his doctors telling him. “I said, ‘Why don’t we just remove it and biopsy it at the same time?'”

Three days later, Coulier received news from his doctor that he had B-cell lymphoma, a form of cancer that develops in B lymphocytes, according to the American Cancer Society. B-cell lymphomas account for the vast majority of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. More than 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma each year.

“The first thing I said to them was, ‘Wait a minute, cancer?’” he Coulier. “(I felt) like I was punched in the stomach because it never happens to you. You always hear about it happening to someone else.”

Hearing the news was even harder because his wife, Melissa Coulier, was not home.

“I just thought, ‘How am I going to tell her?'” he says. “When I told her, of course she thought I was joking.”

After reassuring her that he wasn’t joking, Melissa “organized (his) whole life, from diet to the doctor’s appointments and the pills.”

“She has color-coded stuff,” he says. “It’s pretty amazing.”

To understand what stage of cancer he had, Coulier’s doctors took a bone marrow sample.

“They wanted to see if (the cancer) had spread to major organs or my blood or bones or something,” he says. “It was a matter of pins and needles for a few days, because I didn’t know what stage it was in or whether it had already progressed.”

Yet at some point Coulier began to feel a kind of acceptance.

“I told Melissa I don’t know why, but I’m okay with whatever the news is, no matter how devastating it is. … I can’t explain where that comes from,” he says. “I’ve had an incredible life. I have had the most wonderful people in my life. This has been an extraordinary journey and I’m okay with this being the end of it.”

A few days later he learned he had stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma means the cancer has not spread beyond the lymphatic system, according to the American Cancer Society. The five-year survival rate for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has not spread widely is about 74%, according to ACS.

“It doesn’t sound great,” but the recovery rate is good, he says.

Starting chemotherapy

The doctors wanted Coulier to start chemotherapy immediately, and he underwent another surgery to have his chemotherapy port, which delivers the medication, installed.

In the run-up to his first treatment, Coulier was confronted with his fear of the unknown of cancer.

“You hear chemo, and it scares you,” he says. “The first round was quite intense because you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you’re going to feel. Is this going to affect me right away? Will it be devastating? Should I walk out of here?”

He felt better than expected after his first chemotherapy. In total, he will undergo six rounds every 21 days and should complete the treatment in February 2025.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. There (are) days when I feel incredible,” he says. “Then there are other days where… I just lay down and let this be what it will be.”