“Full House” star Dave Courier appeared on NBC’s “Today” to reveal that he was diagnosed with tongue cancer about seven months after overcoming stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He assured fans that his prognosis was much better than his last bout with cancer, with a “90% cure rate.” Courier will undergo 35 radiation treatments and is scheduled to finish treatment on December 31st.
“It has nothing to do with any cancer I had before,” Courier said. “So in October of this year, I went in for a routine PET scan. The PET scan showed that something had flared up. It showed I had a P16 squamous cell carcinoma at the base of my tongue. So I said to the doctors, ‘So, is this caused by lymphoma?’ And they said, ‘It has nothing to do with it.’
“The prognosis for P16 squamous cell carcinoma is very good,” Coulier added. “So the cure rate is 90%. But what really saved my life, Craig, is that early detection not only saved my life the first time, but it saved my life the second time. So I encourage you to get tested. I hope you get a colonoscopy, a breast exam, a prostate exam. They will save your life.”
According to the American Cancer Society. P16 is a protein that is a marker for human papillomavirus (HPV). Courier’s doctors told him that his tongue cancer may have been caused by an infection with the HPV virus 30 years ago.Many people carry the HPV virus, but my tongue cancer was said to have been activated and turned into cancer.
Courier announced in November 2024 that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. After finding out his cancer was stage 3, he immediately started chemotherapy.
“When I hear about chemotherapy, I get scared of the sun and get scared,” the actor said at the time. “The first round was pretty intense because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know how you’re going to feel. Is this going to hit you right away? Is it going to be devastating? Am I going to walk away from this?”
Courier then announced in March 2025 that he was cancer-free. He spoke to Parade magazine about his battle with cancer, explaining that he finished grueling chemotherapy treatment in February.
“With each treatment, my symptoms got worse and worse,” he explained. “Then I started having more neurological problems that I had never had before. I started getting more nausea. I started getting more dizziness. I have something called chemical brain, which is a little bit of brain fog, and that started to increase. The number of days I could get up and walk around and be active started to decrease.”
Courier’s wife, Melissa, told the magazine that while Courier was struggling with treatment, the couple started having “what if” conversations. “After[his fifth]round of chemotherapy, he said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do this again.'” He was like, “I’m ready either way.” If I die, I die. And it would be great if I could stay here. I want to. ‘Those conversations were obviously very tough. ”
Regarding his current tongue cancer diagnosis, Courier told Today viewers, “My doctor said the prognosis is good, but I’m going to start radiation treatment right away…It’s a completely different animal than chemotherapy. It’s not as aggressive, but it still has side effects.”
