John Stamos Says Beach Boys’ Mike Love, 85, Is ‘Facing Serious Health Challenges,’ but ‘Insists on Being on Stage’

The actor shared the health update on Love, whom he described as a “father figure,” amid fan concern on Sunday, Oct. 11

NEED TO KNOW

• Mike Love is “facing serious health challenges,” John Stamos revealed amid fan concern for the Beach Boys co-founder
• Stamos shared the health update in a tribute to “father figure” Love before joining him for an Oct. 11 show in Nashville, Tenn.
• “Despite doctors, family and friends urging him to focus on his health, he insists on being on stage,” Stamos wrote of Love

John Stamos has shared a health update on his friend and mentor Mike Love.

Love, 85, is “facing serious health challenges,” the Full House alum, 63, said in a heartfelt tribute to the Beach Boys founding member ahead of their joint performance in Tennessee on Sunday, Oct. 11. The health update, which Stamos shared jointly with Love on Instagram, comes amid fan concern for the musician’s health after footage of him performing while seated went viral on social media.

“I’m boarding a plane to Nashville to play with the Beach Boys at the Ryman Auditorium, struggling to put my feelings into words,” Stamos wrote alongside photos of himself and Love. “My beloved friend, father figure, musical hero and mentor, Mike Love, is facing serious health challenges. We hope he’ll be doing what he loves for years to come, but we don’t know what the future holds. We have tonight.”

“Mike is a fighter. Despite doctors, family and friends urging him to focus on his health, he insists on being on stage,” Stamos continued. “He says he needs his band, the audience, his friends and drummer surrounding him to lift him up.”

Stamos did not share what health struggles Love is facing. PEOPLE has reached out to a rep for Love for additional comment.

The Oct. 11 Nashville stop is part of the Beach Boys’ tour celebrating the 60th anniversary of their album Pet Sounds. Stamos — who has been performing various shows with the Beach Boys since 1985 — has appeared during several of the shows as a special guest.

“I’ve played with Mike for 41 years. I never imagined how deeply it would affect me to see someone larger than life face something so human and fragile,” he wrote in his Sunday post. “The Mike Love we see tonight may not be exactly the Mike we’ve always known. But he’s still every bit the Mike we love.”

Stamos went on to say that through “more than 7,000 concerts,” Love has “brought joy” to multiple generations. “What he’s given me personally is immeasurable,” Stamos said, citing the Beach Boys founding member’s relationship with his 8-year-old son, Billy, and the fact that Love got ordained to officiate his 2018 wedding to wife Caitlin McHugh.

“Forty-one years of stages, airplanes, hotel rooms, laughter and moments nobody else saw. He married Caitlin and me. He’s shared experiences with my family, and now my son,” Stamos wrote. “Mike didn’t just give me a place in his band. He gave me a place in his life.”

“He taught me how to entertain, hold a stage, connect with an audience and make people feel something. I carry those lessons everywhere. He’s made me a better musician, entertainer and man,” the Full House star continued. “This life with Mike and the Beach Boys has become part of my identity. I’ve felt entrusted with being a steward of this extraordinary music, carrying it to new generations.”

Stamos said in his post that he wants to be “completely present” at the Beach Boys’ Oct. 11 show in Nashville.

“I want to be completely present. Hear every harmony, familiar joke and cheer. Feel that first chord hit and watch age, illness and time disappear. Just a bunch of guys making music together,” he wrote.

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“Maybe the hardest part of loving someone is becoming so accustomed to the miracle of having them there that you forget it’s a miracle at all,” Stamos wrote. “Tonight, I won’t forget.”

“I want to cherish every second without feeling those seconds slipping away. That’s what I’m giving him,” he added before concluding the post: “We don’t know what tomorrow brings. But we have tonight.”