Full House star Dave Coulier has revealed that he was diagnosed with tongue cancer less than a year after successfully undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Courier, 66, shared an update on his health in an interview with Today on Dec. 2, calling the news a “shock to the system.”
“You go through chemotherapy and you feel that relief of, 'Oh, I'm cured.' And then you get tested and they tell you, 'You have a different type of cancer.' … This is a shock to the system,” he said, explaining that he was diagnosed with HPV-related oropharyngeal tongue cancer in October.
Courier revealed she was cancer-free just six months before receiving her new diagnosis after battling stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
He said he showed no symptoms or signs until it was discovered during follow-up tests.
“A few months ago, I had a PET scan and something was flaring up on the scan,” Courier recalled. “The doctor said, 'I don't know what it is, but there's something at the base of your tongue.'”
He said the doctor performed a biopsy. “It was very painful. It felt like I had bitten my tongue, but the pain continued every day,” he said.
Courier said an initial biopsy showed no signs of cancer.
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“We thought, 'This is great. We don't know what it is yet, but there are no cancer cells,'” he explained.
At her next PET scan, scheduled for October, Dr. Coulier said she noticed that the tumor on her tongue had spread again and had increased in size.
He said he went to an ear, nose and throat oncologist for further tests. After a CT scan and MRI, doctors performed another biopsy to remove a larger portion of the tongue.
After a biopsy came back positive for cancerous cells, Courier was diagnosed with early-stage P16 cancer, or oropharyngeal tongue cancer, which starts in the area of the throat known as the oropharynx.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, a cancerous tumor is a group of cancer cells that can grow into and destroy nearby tissue. It can also spread to other parts of the body.
P16 is a protein that is a marker for HPV or human papillomavirus. According to the American Cancer Society, P16-positive cancers are caused by infection with HPV-16, a type of high-risk HPV.
“They said it had nothing to do with my non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This is a new cancer. … I said, 'Are you kidding me?'” Coulier recalled.
The actor said that his doctor told him that his condition may have been caused by being infected with the HPV virus 30 years ago.
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“Many people carry the HPV virus, but I was told that my virus was activated and turned into a cancer,” he added.
“We detected a disease early enough that it is very treatable. … The cure rate is 90 percent,” Courier said. “My doctor said the prognosis is good, but I'm going to start radiation therapy right away.”
Mr Courier said he is currently undergoing radiation therapy, with a total of 35 treatments from Monday to Friday, which will continue until the end of the year.
“It's a completely different animal than chemotherapy. It's not as aggressive, but it still has side effects,” he said, adding that side effects include nausea, “radiation brain” and soreness on the left side of the face and tongue where tissue was taken for biopsy.
“My joke is always: I'm a cancer patient and I'm doing really well.”
Courier said experiencing two different cancer diagnoses in one year took its toll.
“It's emotional. It's mentally draining. It's also very draining for my wife, Melissa. That's the biggest drain on me, considering how this is affecting her,” he said.
Mr Courier said doctors were hopeful that radiation therapy would “cure” the cancer. His last treatment was December 31st.
“I can start the new year saying I finished my radiation treatment yesterday. It's kind of a coincidence,” he added.
“The silver lining here is that I had cancer and that helped us find other cancers. It seems crazy to say that, but it's true,” Courier said.
“If I hadn't gone to the hospital and listened to the doctors and had a follow-up PET scan, this cancer would never have been discovered…and I could have been in a world of hurt. This could have been very advanced and I would have been in trouble.”
In April, Courier revealed that she received two life-changing pieces of news on the very same day. It was that he had become a grandfather and there were no signs of illness in his body.
Courier discussed the timing of the two big moments on April 18 on the How Rude, Tanneritos! podcast, hosted by former Full House co-stars Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber.
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“We got the good news the day the baby was born. So I was so excited to hear the news, and then Luc (Courier's son) called me and said, 'Hey, we just had a baby.' So it was a great day,” Courier said.
“It was really amazing, wasn't it? So we were like, 'Oh, this is too much!'
In March, Courier opened up about the most difficult part of her cancer treatment after being diagnosed with the disease late last year.
He learned in November 2024 that he had stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic and immune systems) and revealed that he first noticed symptoms in October after suffering from a respiratory infection that caused swollen lymph nodes in his groin and armpits.
“It swelled up right away,” Courier told Today in November. “I thought, 'Wow, either I'm really sick or my body is really reacting to something.'”
A subsequent scan and biopsy made the diagnosis. Within three days, Courier received treatment.
He provided an update near the end of last year, telling Today that in the five weeks following his diagnosis, he had three surgeries, started chemotherapy and lost some of his hair.
In late February, Courier became unwell again after completing her sixth and final round of chemotherapy, telling Parade that the depths of her treatment left her unable to stop thinking about death.
“I started feeling pretty sick,” he told the magazine, “I didn't know I had the virus. I was in bed for about 10 days trying to think, 'Do I have a cold? Am I just feeling the effects of the cumulative effects of chemotherapy? What's going on?'
Courier also mentioned his friend and Full House co-star John Stamos, who faced backlash after sharing a photo with Courier in November of him wearing a bald cap as a sign of solidarity.
“I think people misunderstand my personal relationship with my friend John Stamos,” Courier said.
“He knows what makes me laugh, and when he just walked out, I fell to the floor laughing. It wasn't that we were making fun of other people too much. Let's laugh through it, because this is a tough journey,” he explained, adding that Stamos calls him almost every day to check on him.
— With files from Rachel Goodman of Global News
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