Dave Coulier Shares Intimate Details of His Cancer Journey & Talks About his 'Full House' Family

Hi, I'm Dave Coulier, and I'm on the cover of Parade

How cool is that? This has been a roller coaster ride for sure

I've had six chemotherapy treatments. I just finished the sixth one. And with that sixth one came the lowest point on the roller coaster ride

Because chemotherapy can be cumulative in your system, I had the lowest blood levels of the entire journey

So I was here at home, finished my sixth and final treatment

and I got very, very sick. So 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

So finally, my wife, Melissa, said, enough's enough. We're going to have a doctor come over

So my doctor stopped by. He said, you're going to the hospital, and we've got to get some antibiotics into you now

And I was in the hospital for four days, and they pumped me filled with fluids and antibiotics

It was a rhinovirus. Because my white blood cell count was so low, it wasn't able to fight off this common cold virus

My doctors later told me if you would have waited another 48 hours

you would have been in a real battle, and we might not have been able to turn this around

I've gotten to go through this journey with an incredible partner, my wife Melissa

You know, we're going through this together. We've been a team. I think it would have been a totally different journey had she not been with me

I know she's really been there for you, kind of tweaking your diet

She's very into the holistic thing. Talk to me about the things that she has asked you to do

Well, I had to give up a lot of fun foods. I love sushi, so I couldn't have any raw fish

I'm a firm believer now that what you put into your body is exactly what you'll get back

So I've completely cut out all sugar. You know because of my age and because I still like to play ice hockey I had a lot of inflammation And once I stopped sugar it was gone in a matter of seven days And I thought

this is insane. I don't feel anything in my hips or my knees or my elbows

And my wife just kind of likes to just sit there and smile. I'm 110% on board just because I feel

the side effects. And my oncologist in the hospital the other day, she said, you know

Dave, you've gone through these treatments remarkably well. And I said, well, why am I here

in the hospital? She said, well, look, a lot of people enter into this chemotherapy very unhealthy

You came into this like an athlete and, you know, you had already changed your diet. That helped you

a lot because it gives your body the strength to be able to weather through this storm. And she said

And also, you've been cracking jokes the entire time. Come on now, cut it out

You've been making the staff laugh and the nurses. And she said, that is 99% of it

You and John posted that photo right when you were diagnosed. And then there were a lot of naysayers

Did that surprise you? I think people misunderstood my personal relationship with my buddy, John Stamos

He knows what makes me laugh. He walked out like that. I fell on the floor laughing

It wasn't us making fun of others. It was, let's laugh our way through this

because this is a tough journey. I know you guys as a cast are so close

I know you're extra close with John. How have they all been taking turns

being there for you, supporting you? We're a family. And so we get these text strings

and it's always funny and that keeps us connected. And, you know, Candace has FaceTimed me

a couple of times and Lori is FaceTiming me a couple of times

John FaceTimes me like every day. Hey, are you still alive? He's making gallows humor jokes

but he knows that's what's going to make me laugh. We're very close

I love them all so dearly. Bob's passing, the anniversary of his passing

was three years ago. Do you ever sit and like, does he come to you in your dreams I miss Bob so much And I met Bob when I was 18 years old Yes he comes to me in my dreams and he always does something silly and foolish and makes me laugh And Bob would have been here every single day He would have called me every day How are you doing How are you What the prognosis Dave tell me what going on

and he would have driven me crazy. And, you know, it was a lovable crazy that he had

I'll be having a moment of just clarity and I'll think, oh, I'll call Bob

And then I realize I can't. I can't call anybody and tell them

this thought that I have right now because Bob is the only one who would think so outrageously

to be able to respond to it. When you first heard the words that you have cancer, what went through your head

Were you angry? Were you calm? Were you crying with your wife

It's funny how life just happens sometimes. Because we had been waiting to hear from the doctors from, you know, some scans and blood work

And I was home alone with our two dogs, Ziggy and Cooper

My doctors called. And they said, well, we wish we had better news for you

And I just went gulp. And they said, you have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the most aggressive kind

It's called B-cell. And I said, OK, what does that mean? And they said, it means you're going

in for chemotherapy next week because of the aggressive nature of this type of cancer

We hung up and my wife walked in. First thing she said was, have you heard from the doctors

And I said, yeah, I just got off the phone. She goes, and? I said, I have cancer

And she goes, don't even joke around. And I said, no. It was as if I punched her in the stomach with this information

And that's what I felt. I didn't feel bad for myself. I felt so bad that it was affecting her that deeply

And I thought, and that's when the reality really set in. you know we held each other and we both just cried and I said this is I gonna turn this into something and she said what are you gonna turn it into and I said I going to turn this into something And she said well what are you going to turn it into And I said I think I can turn this into maybe helping some people

We just let it all kind of soak in organically. Have you thought about kind of like what you want for your life

like after this is over? Hopefully knock on some wood over here

Knock on wood, I got plenty of it right here. And you don't need, you know, any other treatments

And you can just maybe go back to eventually regaining a normal life

Have you thought about that yet? Absolutely. We have a grandson coming, hopefully end of March

And so we're so excited about that. You know, there's just so many things that I love to do

I love to play golf. I love to play ice hockey. So I'm looking forward to getting back in shape and skating with my beer league friends on Saturday mornings

So there's a lot. There's a lot on my plate. I have a full house

It looks like you've got a pretty cool hat collection going. How many hats do you have now

I have about eight hats that I kind of switch around. John Stamos, when he came and visited me here in Michigan, I said, do you want to go to a really cool hat store

And he said, yeah, let's go. and so John was there and he was modeling hats

He goes, how about this one? Now, John looks tremendous in hats

I kind of look like Uncle Fester if he would pick out a hat

So I finally picked out this really cool hat and he goes, that looks really good on you

And I said, really? He goes, I'm going to buy you that hat. So John bought me a hat that day

and he ended up going home with, I think, three hats. I'm so glad that you're feeling better and sending positive prayers and vibes from Monday to stand for you

Thank you so much. Hey, for those of you who are going through this, I'm giving you a big virtual hug here because, man, there's nothing like that human connection that will get you through this

Go get screened, everybody. Go get screened