Dave Coulier on Taking Action and Staying Strong During Cancer

Actor Dave Coulier announced in October that he had received an early-stage tongue-cancer diagnosis known as oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, making this his second cancer diagnosis in two years. This diagnosis came just seven months after he shared that he was cancer-free following treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which he had been diagnosed with in 2024.

In the latest installment of a multi-part series, Coulier discussed the launch of his digital wellness platform, AwearMarket, as well as highlighted what continues to motivate him to take action in the face of cancer.

In a previous installment of his interview with CURE, Coulier discussed the emotional and psychological realities of facing a second cancer diagnosis and how he is coping today.

CURE: You've launched AwearMarket. Can you tell me about that endeavor?

Coulier: When I was going through chemotherapy, I had a lot of time to just lay in bed and those were many days, many hours, many months of just thinking. One of my first thoughts was, “Why did my lymphatic system crash? Why did my body just suddenly say, ‘OK, you've got cancer?’” I went down many rabbit holes trying to seek answers, and I realized that I had a lot of toxic things in my life. I wanted to know what is so toxic in my life that caused my lymphatic system to just give up, and when I looked around, my life, from head to toe, was filled with toxicity.

It was the soap I was using, it was the shampoo, it was the toothpaste, it was my skin lotion, it was my deodorant, it was my clothing, it was the snacks that I was eating, it was our garbage bags, our toilet paper, it was everything. I thought, “Oh my gosh. Well, no wonder. Where do I begin? How do I find the right things to replace? What do I do?” It was a real daunting task. I thought that I would start with just one thing, and I replaced my toothpaste. That's something I used every day, and that's where my healthy journey began. But I didn't know where to go. I had to do tons of Google searching to try and find products to replace what I had thought was a great product.

All these years, I'd been sold a bill of goods because it's organic, and it's this, it's that. It's all these great things. It turns out, a lot of those things weren’t, but a lot of companies find [their way] around a lot of these requirements and ingredients and restrictions in order to sell their products.

I thought, “This has to be easier. What do I do?” I became very aware, and I realized, it's not just what I was eating, but it's what I was wearing. The word ‘Awear’ was my first thought bubble. And I thought, “I can create something that makes this process easier for people” and AwearMarket was born.

Let’s discuss the charitable aspect of it, partnering with the V Foundation for Cancer Research in support of Hockey Fights Cancer.

The V Foundation asked if I wanted to become an ambassador, and I said, of course, absolutely. And then they said, “Hockey Fights Cancer would like you to be an ambassador as well.” And I said, “Absolutely.” These are amazing organizations doing amazing things, and what it allowed me to do was have more of a mouthpiece to be able to help people.

I thought, AwearMarket can do something here, where we can create a roundup program at the point of purchase, and if people are feeling charitable, they can just round up their order to donate money to the V Foundation. I thought that this is really heaven-sent that I'm the person that is enabling this course of action to be completed.

This chapter in your life is not a passive one. You're being very active, creating, putting things out there.

I lost my sister, Sharon, I lost my niece, Shannon, and I lost my mother, Arlen, to cancer. My sister, Karen, is in remission from cancer right now. When I looked at the strength and resilience that all of those women in my life have had and have, it gives me strength. And I think, “Man, if I can just have 10% of that kind of strength, I'm going to be fine, being able to fight through this.”

When my niece Shannon was going through chemotherapy, she started a thing in Detroit, called Bras for a Cause, and it's to benefit Gilda’s Club. It's a live event, and it's been going, I want to say 15 years now, where women create bras, and they design them. Breast cancer survivors go on stage, and they do a runway show wearing these bras that are just incredible creations, and people can bid on them and all of the money that they bid to purchase these bras goes directly to Gilda’s Club.

I looked at what my niece was doing as she knew she was dying. I thought, I can do something like that — not that I feel like I'm dying, because my prognosis is really, really good. I just thought I never wanted to be the poster boy for cancer, but if I can encourage people in many ways to get early screenings, to get prostate exams, colonoscopies, breast exams, if I am given this torch right now, then I'm really, really happy if it can help other people.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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