Dave Coulier Reveals Stage 3 Diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (Exclusive)

Dave Coulier has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The Full house actor, 65, tells PEOPLE exclusively that he was diagnosed in October after an upper respiratory infection caused large swelling in his lymph nodes.

As his swelling rapidly increased, with one area growing to the size of a golf ball, he said his doctor recommended PET and CT scans and a biopsy, which ultimately gave him news that changed his life.

“Three days later, my doctors called me back and said, ‘We wish we had better news for you, but you have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it’s called B-cell and it’s very aggressive,’” he recalls.

“I went from, I got a little cold to I have cancer, and it was pretty overwhelming,” he says. “This has truly been a fast roller coaster ride of a journey.”

When he learned of his diagnosis, Coulier said he and… his wife Melissa Bring – along with some of his close friends in the medical field – immediately worked together to answer his diagnosis “head-on.”

“We all put our heads together and said, ‘Okay, where are we going?’ And they had a very specific plan for how they were going to treat this,” he says, noting that a bright spot in his diagnosis was when his bone marrow test came back negative. “At that point my chances of recovery went from slightly low to 90%. And so that was a great day.”

Two weeks after his diagnosis, Coulier says he immediately started chemotherapy. He shaved his head as a ‘preemptive strike’, and he continues to talk about his experiences in his podcast Rewind Full House with Marla Sokoloff.

“I started the podcast wearing a hat and I said, I’ve always been a man of many hats, but this hat has a special meaning because a few weeks ago I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” he says . the debut episode in which he talks about his diagnosis. “That was really a conscious decision: I’m going to face this head-on, and I want people to know that this is my life. I’m not going to try to hide anything. I prefer to talk about it, open the discussion and inspire people.”

Throughout his cancer journey, Coulier says he chooses to maintain a positive outlook, especially for his wife and son Luc, with whom he reveals he is expecting his first child. “I looked at the impact those words had on Melissa and I thought, you know what, I’m going to be strong all the time, not only for me, but I’m going to be strong for her too.”

As Coulier goes through this journey, so has he been draw inspiration from family membersmany of whom have also experienced cancer. “I lost my mother to breast cancer. I lost my sister Sharon to breast cancer. She was 36 years old. I lost my niece, Shannon. She was 29 years old,” he says, adding that his older sister Karen also has cancer in addition to him.

“I saw what those women in my family went through, and I thought to myself, ‘If I can be just one-tenth of one percent as strong as them, then I’ll be fine,’” he says.

Amid his treatments, he says he has leaned on his sister Karen — and their shared humor — to keep his spirits up.

“My sister was a nurse so she saw this from a different perspective than I did,” he explains. “She’s so helpful and she’s funny. So we joke about it. One of my jokes is that I went from a Virgo to a Cancer in four short weeks. I’m a big hockey fan. So when they said, ‘You’ve got NHL,’ I thought, ‘I’ve finally made it to the NHL.’

“When I first heard the news, I was of course stunned because I wasn’t expecting it. Then the reality hit me and I found myself remarkably calm about whatever the outcome would be,” he says. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there was an inner peace about everything, and I think that’s part of what I’ve seen in the women in my family. They really instilled that in me and inspired me in a way, because they were fantastic at what they were experiencing, and I just thought, ‘I’m okay with this too.’ I’ve had an incredible life on a journey with incredible people around me and I’m doing well. It certainly changes the perspective.”

Coulier has already completed the first of six chemotherapy treatments and he is taking everything day by day.

“I have my good days. I have my bad days,” he says. “Some days I feel nauseous and dizzy, and there are other days where the steroids kick in and I feel like I have a lot of energy. I skated yesterday with some friends here in Detroit. We just went skating around and shooting pucks, and it was great to just do something that I love and just try to stay focused on all the great things I have in my life.

This also applies to the preparation to become a grandfather: Coulier’s son Luc, 33, and his wife Alex are expecting a baby boy in March. “I have to teach him how to play hockey,” he says. “There is a lot to look forward to.”

Ultimately, by sharing his own story, Coulier hopes to inspire others to get tested early.

“Take care of yourself, because there is a lot to live for,” he advises fans. “And if that means talking to your doctors or getting a mammogram, a breast exam, or a colonoscopy, it can really make a big difference in your life.”