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

Parade

In Parade’s Exclusive Cover Story Dave Coulier discusses the difficulties and laughter he and his wife, Melissa, shared during his cancer treatment along with his relationship with John Stamos, his memories of Bob Saget, and where he is now.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Dave Coulier and I'm on the cover of Parade. How cool is that?

00:11This has been a roller coaster ride for sure. I've had six chemotherapy treatments. I just finished

00:19the sixth one and with that sixth one came the lowest point on the roller coaster ride.

00:27Because chemotherapy can be cumulative in your system, I had the lowest blood levels of the

00:34entire journey. So I was here at home, finished my sixth and final treatment and I got very,

00:42very sick. So I was in bed for about 10 days just trying to figure out, do I have a cold?

00:49Am I just feeling the ramifications of this cumulative effect of the chemo? So finally,

00:54my wife Melissa said, enough's enough. We're going to have a doctor come over. So my doctor

01:00stopped by and said, you're going to the hospital and we got to get some antibiotics into you now.

01:06And I was in the hospital for four days and they pumped me filled with fluids and antibiotics.

01:13It was a rhinovirus. Because my white blood cell count was so low, I wasn't able to fight off this

01:21common cold virus. My doctors later told me if you would have waited another 48 hours,

01:27you would have been in a real battle and we might not have been able to turn this around.

01:33I've gotten to go through this journey with an incredible partner, my wife Melissa. You know,

01:37we're going through this together. We've been a team. I think it would have been a totally

01:42different journey had she not been with me. I know she's really been there for you kind of

01:47tweaking your diet. She's very into the holistic thing. Talk to me about the things that she

01:53has asked you to do. Well, I had to give up a lot of fun foods. I love sushi, so I couldn't

01:59have any raw fish. I'm a firm believer now that what you put into your body is exactly what you'll

02:05get back. So I've completely cut out all sugar, you know, because of my age and because I still

02:13like to play ice hockey. I had a lot of inflammation. And once I stopped sugar,

02:20it was gone in a matter of seven days. And I thought, this is insane. I don't feel anything

02:25in my hips or my knees or my elbows. And my wife just kind of likes to just sit there and smile.

02:31I'm 110% on board just because I feel the side effects. And my oncologist in the hospital the

02:39other day, she said, you know, Dave, you've gone through these treatments remarkably well. And I

02:43said, Well, why am I here in the hospital? She said, Well, look, a lot of people enter into this

02:50chemotherapy, very unhealthy, you came into this, like an athlete. And, you know, you had already

02:58changed your diet that helped you a lot, because it gives your body the strength to be able to

03:05weather through this storm. And she said, And also, you've been cracking jokes the entire time.

03:12Come on, now cut it out. You've been making the staff laugh and the nurses and she said,

03:19that is 99% of it. You and john posted that photo right when you were diagnosed. And then

03:25there were a lot of naysayers. Did that surprise you? I think people misunderstood my personal

03:31relationship with my buddy john Stamos. He knows what makes me laugh. He walked out like that. I

03:37fell on the floor laughing. It wasn't us making fun of others. It was let's laugh our way through

03:45this because this is a tough journey. I know you guys as a cast are so close. I know you're extra

03:50close with john. How have they all been taking turns being there for you supporting you? We're

03:55a family. And so we get these text strings. And it's always funny. And that keeps us connected.

04:01And, you know, Candace is FaceTime me a couple of times and Lori is FaceTime me a couple of times

04:07john FaceTime me like every day. Hey, are you still alive? He's making gallows humor jokes,

04:14but that he knows that's what's gonna make me laugh. We're very close. I love them all so dearly.

04:20Bob's passing the anniversary of his passing was three years ago. Do you ever sit and like,

04:26does he come to you in your dreams? I miss Bob so much. And I met Bob when I was 18 years old.

04:34Yes, he comes to me in my dreams. And he always does something silly and foolish and makes me

04:39laugh. And Bob would have been here every single day. He would have called me every day. How are

04:48you doing? How are you? What's the prognosis? Dave, tell me what's going on. And he would have

04:54driven me crazy. And and you know, it was a lovable crazy that he had. I'll be having a moment of just

05:03clarity. And I'll think Oh, call Bob. And then I realized I can't I can't call anybody and tell

05:12this thought that I have right now. Because Bob is the only one who would think so outrageously

05:18to be able to respond to it. When you first heard the words that you have cancer. What went through

05:25your head? Were you angry? Were you calm? Were you crying with your wife? It's funny how life

05:31just happens sometimes. Because we had been waiting to hear from the doctors from, you know,

05:38some scans and blood work. And I was home alone with our two dogs, Ziggy and Cooper, my doctors

05:45called. And they said, Well, we wish we had better news for you. And I just went gulp. And they said,

05:51you have non Hodgkin's lymphoma, the most aggressive kind, it's called B cell. And I said,

05:58Okay, what does that mean? And they said, it means you're going in for chemotherapy next week.

06:04Because of the aggressive nature of this type of cancer, we hung up. And my wife walked in.

06:10First thing she said was, Have you heard from the doctors? And I said, Yeah, I just got off the phone.

06:16She goes, and I said, I have cancer. And she goes, Don't even joke around. And I said, No, it was if I

06:23punched her in the stomach with this information. And that's what I felt. I didn't feel bad for

06:30myself, I felt so bad that it was affecting her that deeply. And I thought, and that's when a real

06:39the reality really set in. You know, we held each other. And we both just cried. And I said, This is

06:47I'm going to turn this into something. And she said, What are you gonna turn it into? And I said,

06:53I think I can turn this into maybe helping some people. We just let it all kind of soak in

06:59organically. Have you thought about kind of like what you want for your life? Like after this is

07:06over? Hopefully knock on some wood over? You know, I got plenty of it, right? Yeah. And you don't need

07:14you know, any other treatments. And you can just maybe go back to eventually regaining a normal

07:19life. Have you thought about that yet? Absolutely. We have a grandson coming, hopefully end of March.

07:27And so we're so excited about that. You know, there's just so many things that I love to do.

07:33I love to play golf. I love to play ice hockey. So I'm looking forward to getting back in shape and

07:39skating with my beer league friends on Saturday mornings. So there's a lot. There's a lot on my

07:45plate. I have a full house. Looks like you've got a pretty cool hat collection going. How many hats

07:53do you have now? I have about eight hats that I kind of switch around. John Stamos, when he came

07:59and visited me here in Michigan, I said, do you want to go to a really cool hat store? And he said,

08:03yeah, let's go. And so John was there and he was modeling hats. He goes, how about this one? Now,

08:10John looks tremendous in hats. I kind of look like Uncle Fester if he would pick out a hat.

08:17So I finally picked out this really cool hat and he goes, that looks really good on you. And I said,

08:24really? He goes, I'm going to buy you that hat. So John bought me a hat that day and he ended up

08:31going home with, I think, three hats. I'm so glad that you're feeling better and sending positive

08:37prayers and vibes for Mondays and for you. Thank you so much. Hey, for those of you who are going

08:43through this, I'm giving you a big virtual hug here because, man, there is nothing like that

08:51human connection that will get you through this. Go get screened, everybody. Go get screened.

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