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Howie Mandel’s daughter Jackelyn Shultz, 39, is opening up about her son’s leukemia diagnosis.
Shultz, the eldest of three children between Mandel and his wife Terry, shares two kids — son Axel, 9, and daughter Abbey, 11 — with her husband Alex, according to People.
During a Sept. 17 appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensigner,” Shultz recalled the moment she learned her son had leukemia after taking him to the hospital for what she thought was the flu.
“We’ve been on this dark roller coaster ever since, for years now,” she said in the interview.
“We're very fortunate because he is doing really really well right now,” she added. “But that was definitely the lowest point in my whole entire life.”
Mandel, who joined his daughter on the podcast, confirmed that Axel is now in remission after undergoing a bone marrow transplant from his sister Abbey.
“Go home and look at your baby and imagine somebody telling you that something horrible is wrong,” Mandel said. “That’s really, really tough.”
Mandel added that they’ve been battling through this for 3-4 years — and it’s not over yet.
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“It’s still a struggle,” he explained. “He doesn’t have an immune system yet, so he can’t go to school yet. But he’s doing well. His leukemia is in remission and we’re just trying to build up his immune system.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, leukemia “is a cancer of the blood, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal blood cells” in the bone marrow, “where most of your body’s blood is made.”
It’s the 10th most common cancer in the United States and accounts for more than 3% of cancer cases.
Leukemia symptoms can include fever, chills, fatigue, weakness, frequent infections, unexplained weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, bleeding or bruising easily and tiny red spots on the skin, per the Mayo Clinic.
Howie Mandel stresses the importance of family and health
While Mandel and his daughter don’t talk about their family’s struggles publicly often (if at all), Shultz praised her inner support system for frequently checking in on her and her son’s health.
“We’re a team,” Mandel chimed in.
“When something like that happens, it prioritizes — nothing matters but the health and welfare of the people you love and the people who are closest to us,” he added.
While they admit that Axel’s diagnosis brought the family closer together, Mandel argued that he “would give anything to not be together with any member of my family to have my grandchild’s health.”
He went on to share a beautiful quote about what truly goes on in his head when asked how he’s doing.
“If you want to answer the truth, I’m as good as my most miserable child,” he said. “You can’t have something happen in your family and be good.”
“Any human being,” he continued, “has to swim the course against the current. And that’s the current of life.”
Shultz added that her son is still dealing with the aftermath of leukemia treatment, but he’s doing better.
“There’s so much that goes into treatment,” she said. “It’s a really, really, really long, hard road.”
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“We are really fortunate to be where we are right now and for him to be happy and he’s doing well, but we’re still dealing with the bumps and the hurdles that go along with the diagnosis,” she added.
