NEED TO KNOW
- Howie Mandel and his daughter, Jackelyn Shultz, revealed on Wednesday, Sept. 17, that her son, Axel, was previously diagnosed with leukemia
- The father-daughter duo confirmed that the 9-year-old boy is now in remission
- Jackelyn also shared that both the cancer and remission treatments have been “a really, really, really long, hard road”
Howie Mandel and his daughter, Jackelyn Shultz, are opening up about their family’s experience with her son’s cancer diagnosis.
The father-daughter duo appeared on In Depth with Graham Bensinger on Wednesday, Sept. 17, and revealed that Jackelyn’s son, Axel, was previously diagnosed with leukemia and is now in remission.
The America’s Got Talent judge, 69, explained that their family has had to learn how to cope with the diagnosis because it became “really specific” since Axel, 9, has an autoimmune issue. He acknowledged that this is the first time the family has publicly shared Axel’s diagnosis.
Mandel and Schultz, 39, recalled the backlash they faced when Shultz wore a mask while filming their podcast, Howie Mandel Does Stuff. She wore a mask whenever a guest had a cold to keep both her and Axel healthy amid his cancer treatment.
“I got such hate in vitriol they thought it was because I didn’t agree with their politics or whatever,” Schultz explained. “And I was just, in my mind, I’m like, ‘They have no idea what I’m going through right now. They have no idea that I’m just trying to be able to go visit my son in the hospital.’ ”
Mandel chimed in to explain that Axel is doing better and is in remission right now. “But he had to have a bone marrow transplant from his sister,” he said as she began to tear up.
As Schultz wiped away tears, she explained that she’s tried to cope by trying to “not think of it and move on.”
“And we’re very fortunate because he is doing really really well right now,” she said. “But that was definitely the lowest point in my whole entire life.
Mandel consoled his daughter, explaining, “You go home and look at your baby and imagine somebody telling you that something horrible is wrong.”
“That’s really, really tough,” he said. Adding that despite Axel doing better, “it’s still a struggle,” because his grandson “doesn’t have an immune system yet, so he can’t go to school.”
“We’re just trying to build up his immune system,” he said. Shultz then interjected to share that now the family is dealing with the transplant.
“I don’t think people realize that there’s so much that goes into treatment that it’s not just the cancer alone, but it’s also the treatment afterwards and the follow-up,” she said. “And it’s a really, really, really long, hard road.”
“We are really fortunate to be where we are right now, and for him to be happy and he’s doing well,” the mother of two said. “But we’re still dealing with like the bumps and the hurdles that go along with the diagnosis and the transplant.”
Shultz shares Axel and Abbey, 11, with husband, Alex Shultz. Mandel is also father to son, Alex, 33, and daughter Riley, 31. He recently became a grandfather of three, after Riley welcomed a daughter, Noa, in March 2024.
Before Noa was born, Howie announced that Riley was pregnant during a January 2024 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show.
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“Grandchildren, had I known it was this good and this much fun, I would’ve done that first,” he joked at the time.
“To have a child, to have a baby, to have this bundle of joy, this love that I can’t get enough of. And then to be able to give it back when it starts to smell,” he continued with a laugh.
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