The 66-year-old actor told TODAY that he is currently undergoing radiation therapy for early-stage oropharyngeal tongue cancer after he was diagnosed in October. This cancer is activated when a person becomes infected with a high-risk human papillomavirus, according to the American Cancer Society.
“We found it early enough where it’s very treatable. … It’s got a 90% curability rate,” Coulier told TODAY. “The doctor said the prognosis is good, but we’re going to start radiation immediately.”
“I’ll tell you this. Today is the first day that I really feel like, ‘Wow, I’m feeling pretty darn good. I feel like myself,’” Coulier told Parade at the time. “And it’s today. So I get to celebrate that with you.”
The actor said he continued getting PET scans every few months. After his doctor noticed “something flared” at the base of his tongue in one of the scans, Coulier had more tests and two biopsies performed before being diagnosed with P16-positive carcinoma.
“To go through chemotherapy and feel that relief of whoa, it’s gone, and then to get a test that says, well, now you’ve got another kind of cancer,” Coulier told TODAY, “it is a shock to the system.”