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

The “Fuller House” star, who played Uncle Joey, first noticed his symptoms a little over a month ago, when he caught 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 golf ball-sized lump in his groin less than a week after falling ill.

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

Concerned, he visited his doctors who performed various tests, including blood tests, EKGs, PET scans and CT scans. When everything seemed normal, doctors biopsied the lymph node, just to be safe. Coulier soon understood why his lymph node had become so enlarged.

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

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

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

Dave Coulier diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma

When Coulier felt unwell a little over a month ago and noticed a swollen lymph node in his groin, he felt perplexed.

“The onset of this growing lymphoma in the groin area was very rapid. So I said, ‘Something is wrong,'” he recalled to Hoda during his Nov. 13 appearance in TODAY.

Coulier visited his doctor, who prescribed a battery of tests.

“They said, ‘Yes, we need to think seriously about it.’ And so, we did blood tests,” he says. “The blood tests came back excellent. My ECG, everything is fine. Heart, everything is perfect.

But his doctors became concerned about how quickly the mass grew and ordered more advanced imaging before finally wanting a sample for testing.

“We would like to either remove that or biopsy it,” Coulier recalled his doctors telling him. “I said, ‘Well, why don’t we just take it out and biopsy it at the same time?'”

Three days later, Coulier received news from his doctor that he had B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in B lymphocytes, according to the American Cancer Society. B-cell lymphomas represent the vast majority of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Each year, more than 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

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

Hearing the news was even more difficult because his wife, Mélissa Coulier, was not at home.

“I was just wondering, ‘How do I tell him?’ “, he said. “Of course, when I told her, she thought I was joking.”

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

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

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

“They wanted to see if (the cancer had) spread to any major organs, my blood, my bones or anything,” he says. “It was tingling for a few days because I didn’t know what stage it was or if it had progressed.”

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

“I told Melissa I don’t know why, but I agree with all the news, as devastating as it is. … I can’t explain where that comes from,” he said. “I’ve had an incredible life. I have had the most amazing people in my life. It’s been an amazing journey, and I’m okay if this is the end of the journey.

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

Survival rates for stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma means the cancer has not spread outside 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%. by ACS.

“(Stage 3) doesn’t sound great,” Coulier says, but because it hasn’t spread to his bone marrow, doctors tell him his recovery rate is over 90 percent.

“It’s very treatable,” he told TODAY.

Start chemotherapy

Doctors wanted Coulier to start chemotherapy quickly, and he underwent another surgery to place his chemotherapy port, which delivers the drug.

Before his first treatment, Coulier faced his fear of the unknowns of cancer.

“You hear chemo and it scares you,” he says. “The first round was quite intense because we don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how you’re going to feel. Will it hit me immediately? Is it going to be devastating? Am I going to get out of here?

He felt better than expected after his first round of chemotherapy. In total, he will have six cycles every 21 days and is expected to complete his treatment by February 2025. After treatment, he expects “full remission.”

“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. There (are) days where I feel amazing,” he says. “Then there are other days where…I’ll just lay back and let it happen like that.”