AGT Judge Howie Mandel’s Young Grandson in Remission From Leukemia

Published: September 21, 2025

By Mallory Mattingly

AMERICA’S GOT TALENT judge Howie Mandel revealed that his grandson Axel ,9, was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant from his sister.

“We don’t really talk about my son’s health and the struggles going on within the family at all, like publicly,” Jackelyn Shultz, Mandel’s daughter and Axel’s mom, said on the “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” podcast. “We do with our family, but it’s nice to have that support system. I get phone calls, everyone checks in, we’re all just there supporting each other. We’re a team.”

“All you have when something catastrophic happens in a family, like your blood is there, you know, your family. And you also, 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 you,” Mandel echoed. “I know my wife says it brought the family together. I would give anything to not be together with any member of my family to have my grandchild’s health.”

The father-daughter duo explained that they’d get backlash when Shultz wore a mask on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast.

“His [Axel’s] issue is an autoimmune issue, right? It’s leukemia. And in fact, that’s the first time we’ve ever talked about it on camera. But the truth is, we’ve been doing the podcast. So sometimes somebody would just come in to do a podcast, and they’d have a cold, and she’d be wearing a mask,” Mandel said.

“And I got such hate and vitriol,” Shultz added. “They thought it was because I didn’t agree with their politics or whatever, and the comments in that section — 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.”

According to PEOPLE, Axel is in remission and doing better, but Shultz recalled the struggles, saying she tried to cope with the pain 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 shared. “But that was definitely the lowest point in my whole entire life.”

Axel got a bone marrow transplant from his older sister, Abbey, 11, who Shultz shares with husband Alex.

Now, they’re working to “build up [Axel’s] immune system” after the cancer treatment wiped it out.

“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,” Shultz 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,” she added. “But we’re still dealing with like the bumps and the hurdles that go along with the diagnosis and the transplant.”

Thankfully, Axel is in remission, but keep him and his family in your prayers as he still has a long road to recovery.

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