April 21, 2024 • 15 mins
Original Air Date: April 21, 2024
April 22 has been designated as Daniel Jacobs Day in Brooklyn. Known as Miracle Man, Jacobs is a pro boxer who was diagnosed 13 years ago with a rare form of bone cancer. Told by doctors he’d never box again, he returned to the sport with a KO and 3 years after diagnosis, he became te WBA middleweight champ.
April 22 has been designated as Daniel Jacobs Day in Brooklyn. Known as Miracle Man, Jacobs is a pro boxer who was diagnosed 13 years ago with a rare form of bone cancer. Told by doctors he’d never box again, he returned to the sport with a KO and 3 years after diagnosis, he became te WBA middleweight champ.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Graasye Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to Daniel Jacobs. Now,Daniel is a two time middleweight world champ
with forty one total fights, includingthirty seven wins, thirty wins by ko.
(00:25):
In twenty eleven, so thirteen yearsago, Daniel was diagnosed with osteo
sarcoma. Now that's a rare formof bone cancer. He was told he
would never fight again. And afternineteen months away from boxing, and during
nine hours of surgery, six weeksof rehab, four months of radiation,
(00:48):
Daniel fully recovered and thus the miracleMan was born. And in his return
to the sport, he achieved afirst round knockout. In twenty fourteen,
three years after the cancer diagnosis,he won to become the WBC middleweight Champ,
(01:08):
the first cancer survivor to ever accomplishthis feat, and so so fittingly,
tomorrow Brooklyn has declared April twenty secondto be Daniel Jacob's day. What
a story, Daniel, thank youso much. Yes, and you're training
(01:32):
again like you will be fighting againsoon. Right, Absolutely, we'll be
fighting soon. We've been off forsome time now and we're making the return
to continue our career and hopefully winand into the Hall of Fame as we
end our career. And you arelike a native son because you were born
(01:57):
in Brownsville, an area that isno own for its champions. And where
do you live now? Are youstill in Brooklyn? I'm not. I'm
currently I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and I'm back and forth between New
York and Atlanta. Yes, Sohow does it feel to have Brooklyn declare
(02:19):
a day in your honor? What'sthat like? It's such a privilege just
knowing all of my heroes that comefrom Brooklyn and the neighborhoods in which I
grew up to know that I couldaccomplish such a thing means a lot because
the culture is rich, the talentis there. There's so many beautiful people
(02:40):
and people that have extraordinary special talentsthat fill the world with their music,
with the athleticism, just with theirsmarts and all that they accomplished. So
for me, someone who never evenenvisioned themselves being a champion when I started
out, I first started out andjust loved the sport of boxing. Let
(03:00):
alone create so many different opportunities tohave success. I think it's just absolutely
a blessing and nothing short of amiracle. When did you first decide,
oh, this is for me,When did you first participate in boxing?
Well, I was at the ageof fourteen years old and it was a
(03:24):
bully that was picking on kids inschool, and he picked on me and
we got in trouble by the principal. And when we returned back to school,
some of my peers was telling methat this kid was going down to
the local gym, and I said, okay, well, maybe we can
handle what we had our differences insidethe actual ring and do it like young
(03:45):
men, you know. And sowhen I went down, I just remember
experiencing love at first sight. Inever experienced that when it came to anything
at that age. And the gymjust the grittiness, the smell that the
boxers with dreams, you know,going inside the ring and being inside that
(04:06):
gritty jim, I just felt likeit was my home. And when I
actually got a chance to box thebully, you know, I did very
well and I decided to continue withit. He never returned and I stuck
with it, and you know,the rest is history. So wait,
so what did your mom think ofall this? Not to mention your grandmother
(04:31):
and your aunts, because they wereall involved in your upbringing. So what
was the reaction with the matrix.Yeah, well, my mom was very
super supportive. And I think mygrandmother because she was such a grandmom and
she was so with all her grandkids, just so close to us, and
(04:53):
I think she was a little bitmore nervous than anything. But at some
point she decided to just support me, give me a all the love that
I needed. And you know,she definitely was in my corner to the
day that she died. So tellme about the illness, because you had
a rare form of bone cancer.How old were you first of all in
(05:14):
twenty eleven when all of us wentdown. I believe I was in my
early twenties and this was almost inthe beginning of my professional career. And
we were When I say we,it was a group of boxers that was
young, up and coming talent,and we actually got a chance, with
(05:34):
Oscar de la Joyer and some ofthe other Hall of Fame fighters to go
out to Iraq to support the troops, which was such a cool experience in
itself, but it was at thatpoint when I was out there, I
got really sick, and I remembermy body feeling just the effects of it.
A little be known to me thatthere was a massive tumor, you
(05:56):
know, having a hold on mynerves, on my spine, and it
was just pressing and pressing, andevery day it would get worse until I
think the last day we was there, I just I had to go to
the doctor out there, and theysaid you got to get back. Something's
not right. And so upon myreturn, after having an amazing experience out
(06:17):
there with the soldiers, I wentto the doctor immediately, and that's when
they diagnosed me. When you sayyou were feeling sick, was it painsick?
Was it nauseous sick? Was itI can't get out of bed sick?
Or maybe all of the above.It was a multiple things. It
was actually me feeling nauseous, butmost importantly it was me feeling my nerves
(06:39):
deteriorate. I couldn't feel certain sensesin my body. And I remember the
last day when I got back toBrooklyn, before I went to the doctor,
I woke up one morning and Icompletely fell out of bed and I
couldn't get up and I couldn't walk, so I was paralyzed from the waist
down at that point. To gethelp to take me to the hospital and
(07:03):
to actually see what was going on, it was very severe. I am
speaking with Daniel miracle Man. Brooklynhas declared tomorrow Daniel Jacob's day. He
was diagnosed in twenty eleven with arare form of bone cancer. Told you
would never fight again, and lessthan two years later, he returned to
(07:28):
the sport first round knockout and becamethe WBC middleweight champion, the first cancer
survivor to ever accomplish this feat.Daniel, what was your reaction when you
were told you had cancer? Itwas a scare and for me, I
couldn't believe it, honestly. Whenthe doctor said that the tumor that was
(07:49):
wrapped around my spine was cancerous andthat you know after I had surgery,
if it was a successful surgery,that I would have to get radiation and
chemotherapy, and like that. Itwas something to process as a young man
at that time. Who did yourely on for support? Who do you
most credit with helping you get throughthis? I mean, I know it
(08:11):
takes a village, but you know, I'm as a cancer survivor as well,
not as scary as your cancer.And you know, with you threatening
your whole career and your life,but you know you need that support.
You rely on some support. Sowhere did you do? Yeah? I
(08:33):
mean I come from a very bigfamily, and I think everyone was equally
supportive. There was also my godmotherwho made sure that she came to the
doctor every day as much as shecould. She orchestrated everything. She was
pretty much like my proxy. SoI credit her a lot for all that
she's done. But just my entirefamily, they showed up. They made
(08:56):
sure I felt the love, andthey made sure that I knew in my
mind that I had support no matterwhat the outcome was. Was there any
history of this in your family?Actually, there was my grandmother Garrus,
a soul who actually passed away.She had complications with her heart, but
she also had cancer as well,and so a few of my family who
(09:16):
are survivors had cancer. And sowhen I was thinking at that time,
even though it was such a surprise, that maybe it was something that was
hereditary, did you right from thestart know in your soul that you were
going to get back in the ring. Was this an immediate goal? Actually?
(09:39):
You know what it wasn't I thinkfor anybody, especially a young man
at that time. It was hearingthe words of the doctors say, you
have cancer. There's a large possibilitythat you would never be able to box
again, and so you may haveto find a new path in life.
And already having four or five sixyears of training and goals that I've already
(10:05):
set up in my mind, itwas something to digest. But you know,
most people look at the doctor's words, as you know, sign sealed,
delivered. And it took a whilefor me to understand that maybe I
can take my own career in myhands, you know, with faith,
with the right type of motivation andsupport, anything is possible. And so
(10:28):
I remember the last day I wasin the hospital, when I went in
in a wheelchair, I said thatI was going to walk out of here,
and that I did. And onceI walked out, I got back
home and I said to myself,I'm actually going to go to the gym.
The doctors told me not even tobe in the gym's vicinity, let
(10:50):
alone. You know, have dreamsand aspirations of coming back to the sport.
So I do remember coming back andmy very first day, which was
maybe too early, but it wasa week and a half. Two weeks
after I got back home from thehospital, I went to the gym,
and you know, the journey started. But ultimately it was the feeling of
(11:13):
taking my career into my own handsthat sparked everything. So how did all
this change your life? The cancerdiagnosis, the cancer fight, and the
post cancer come back. Well changemy life based off of my perspective on
life. That gave me something toappreciate. You know, I was young,
(11:37):
up and coming, and you know, you view a lot of successful
people in a way where sometimes theymay take their life or a career for
granted, and you know, sometimesguys get too ahead of themselves. I
always wanted to remain humble, andso I remember saying the prayer maybe two
years before the cancer diagnosis, andacting, God, how can I remain
(12:01):
humble? Because if I become theperson that I want to become, I
know there's going to be a lotof distractions and I don't want to lose
sight or who I am, whereI come from. And you know what
it means to be a genuine humbleBrooklyn Night. So during that whole process
of the cancer, you know,there was one day where I looked at
it as how could something like thishappened to me? You know, how
(12:24):
could I be such a young,promising, career healthy, you know,
athletic guy that could suffer such adiagnosis. But then I realized that maybe
this was like the biggest blessing tome, because you know, I was
very fortunate just to have life alone, and so to be humble, there's
only really truly understanding and appreciating whatyou have in the moment, and just
(12:48):
the fact that I was able tobe present from my son, who was
a little kid at the time,was the biggest blessing in the world.
And to have an opportunity to justwalk again, you see my family again,
be outside. Being in the hospitalfor two months in a wheelchair was
just one of the worst experiences thatyou know, anyone can go through.
(13:09):
And so I just appreciated really justthe small things, and I believe that
God blessed me with the world andall of the accomplishments that I had afterwards,
because I chose to remain humble andappreciative to do you in any way
give back to the cancer community.Oh? Absolutely, well. We started
(13:31):
years ago once I came out ofthe hospital and got back on my feet
and was able to be mobile.We started a nonprofit organization that you know,
focuses on kids with cancer and kidswith also teaching them how to be
more healthy, and also based offof the fact that I started boxing off
(13:52):
of being picked on in school.We collaborated all three so it was a
mixture of things, and we gaveback to the community generously, and we
spent our time, a lot ofour time actually in hospitals talking to different
kids and just seeing some of theyou know, the pain and being a
token of light to some of thosekids too, where all the day worries
(14:16):
was just not even present in themoment that we were there. It was
the biggest blessing that I can receive. Well, congratulations Daniel Jacobs. Tomorrow,
Brooklyn is declaring Daniel Jacob's day,Daniel miracle Man Jacobs becoming the WBC
(14:37):
middleweight Champion after surviving cancer, thefirst cancer survivor to ever accomplish this feat.
All of New York is so proudof you. You are just an
awesome human being, and congratulations.You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio,
a production of New York's classic rockQ one O four point three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Graasye Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to Daniel Jacobs. Now,Daniel is a two time middleweight world champ
with forty one total fights, includingthirty seven wins, thirty wins by ko.
(00:25):
In twenty eleven, so thirteen yearsago, Daniel was diagnosed with osteo
sarcoma. Now that's a rare formof bone cancer. He was told he
would never fight again. And afternineteen months away from boxing, and during
nine hours of surgery, six weeksof rehab, four months of radiation,
(00:48):
Daniel fully recovered and thus the miracleMan was born. And in his return
to the sport, he achieved afirst round knockout. In twenty fourteen,
three years after the cancer diagnosis,he won to become the WBC middleweight Champ,
(01:08):
the first cancer survivor to ever accomplishthis feat, and so so fittingly,
tomorrow Brooklyn has declared April twenty secondto be Daniel Jacob's day. What
a story, Daniel, thank youso much. Yes, and you're training
(01:32):
again like you will be fighting againsoon. Right, Absolutely, we'll be
fighting soon. We've been off forsome time now and we're making the return
to continue our career and hopefully winand into the Hall of Fame as we
end our career. And you arelike a native son because you were born
(01:57):
in Brownsville, an area that isno own for its champions. And where
do you live now? Are youstill in Brooklyn? I'm not. I'm
currently I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and I'm back and forth between New
York and Atlanta. Yes, Sohow does it feel to have Brooklyn declare
(02:19):
a day in your honor? What'sthat like? It's such a privilege just
knowing all of my heroes that comefrom Brooklyn and the neighborhoods in which I
grew up to know that I couldaccomplish such a thing means a lot because
the culture is rich, the talentis there. There's so many beautiful people
(02:40):
and people that have extraordinary special talentsthat fill the world with their music,
with the athleticism, just with theirsmarts and all that they accomplished. So
for me, someone who never evenenvisioned themselves being a champion when I started
out, I first started out andjust loved the sport of boxing. Let
(03:00):
alone create so many different opportunities tohave success. I think it's just absolutely
a blessing and nothing short of amiracle. When did you first decide,
oh, this is for me,When did you first participate in boxing?
Well, I was at the ageof fourteen years old and it was a
(03:24):
bully that was picking on kids inschool, and he picked on me and
we got in trouble by the principal. And when we returned back to school,
some of my peers was telling methat this kid was going down to
the local gym, and I said, okay, well, maybe we can
handle what we had our differences insidethe actual ring and do it like young
(03:45):
men, you know. And sowhen I went down, I just remember
experiencing love at first sight. Inever experienced that when it came to anything
at that age. And the gymjust the grittiness, the smell that the
boxers with dreams, you know,going inside the ring and being inside that
(04:06):
gritty jim, I just felt likeit was my home. And when I
actually got a chance to box thebully, you know, I did very
well and I decided to continue withit. He never returned and I stuck
with it, and you know,the rest is history. So wait,
so what did your mom think ofall this? Not to mention your grandmother
(04:31):
and your aunts, because they wereall involved in your upbringing. So what
was the reaction with the matrix.Yeah, well, my mom was very
super supportive. And I think mygrandmother because she was such a grandmom and
she was so with all her grandkids, just so close to us, and
(04:53):
I think she was a little bitmore nervous than anything. But at some
point she decided to just support me, give me a all the love that
I needed. And you know,she definitely was in my corner to the
day that she died. So tellme about the illness, because you had
a rare form of bone cancer.How old were you first of all in
(05:14):
twenty eleven when all of us wentdown. I believe I was in my
early twenties and this was almost inthe beginning of my professional career. And
we were When I say we,it was a group of boxers that was
young, up and coming talent,and we actually got a chance, with
(05:34):
Oscar de la Joyer and some ofthe other Hall of Fame fighters to go
out to Iraq to support the troops, which was such a cool experience in
itself, but it was at thatpoint when I was out there, I
got really sick, and I remembermy body feeling just the effects of it.
A little be known to me thatthere was a massive tumor, you
(05:56):
know, having a hold on mynerves, on my spine, and it
was just pressing and pressing, andevery day it would get worse until I
think the last day we was there, I just I had to go to
the doctor out there, and theysaid you got to get back. Something's
not right. And so upon myreturn, after having an amazing experience out
(06:17):
there with the soldiers, I wentto the doctor immediately, and that's when
they diagnosed me. When you sayyou were feeling sick, was it painsick?
Was it nauseous sick? Was itI can't get out of bed sick?
Or maybe all of the above.It was a multiple things. It
was actually me feeling nauseous, butmost importantly it was me feeling my nerves
(06:39):
deteriorate. I couldn't feel certain sensesin my body. And I remember the
last day when I got back toBrooklyn, before I went to the doctor,
I woke up one morning and Icompletely fell out of bed and I
couldn't get up and I couldn't walk, so I was paralyzed from the waist
down at that point. To gethelp to take me to the hospital and
(07:03):
to actually see what was going on, it was very severe. I am
speaking with Daniel miracle Man. Brooklynhas declared tomorrow Daniel Jacob's day. He
was diagnosed in twenty eleven with arare form of bone cancer. Told you
would never fight again, and lessthan two years later, he returned to
(07:28):
the sport first round knockout and becamethe WBC middleweight champion, the first cancer
survivor to ever accomplish this feat.Daniel, what was your reaction when you
were told you had cancer? Itwas a scare and for me, I
couldn't believe it, honestly. Whenthe doctor said that the tumor that was
(07:49):
wrapped around my spine was cancerous andthat you know after I had surgery,
if it was a successful surgery,that I would have to get radiation and
chemotherapy, and like that. Itwas something to process as a young man
at that time. Who did yourely on for support? Who do you
most credit with helping you get throughthis? I mean, I know it
(08:11):
takes a village, but you know, I'm as a cancer survivor as well,
not as scary as your cancer.And you know, with you threatening
your whole career and your life,but you know you need that support.
You rely on some support. Sowhere did you do? Yeah? I
(08:33):
mean I come from a very bigfamily, and I think everyone was equally
supportive. There was also my godmotherwho made sure that she came to the
doctor every day as much as shecould. She orchestrated everything. She was
pretty much like my proxy. SoI credit her a lot for all that
she's done. But just my entirefamily, they showed up. They made
(08:56):
sure I felt the love, andthey made sure that I knew in my
mind that I had support no matterwhat the outcome was. Was there any
history of this in your family?Actually, there was my grandmother Garrus,
a soul who actually passed away.She had complications with her heart, but
she also had cancer as well,and so a few of my family who
(09:16):
are survivors had cancer. And sowhen I was thinking at that time,
even though it was such a surprise, that maybe it was something that was
hereditary, did you right from thestart know in your soul that you were
going to get back in the ring. Was this an immediate goal? Actually?
(09:39):
You know what it wasn't I thinkfor anybody, especially a young man
at that time. It was hearingthe words of the doctors say, you
have cancer. There's a large possibilitythat you would never be able to box
again, and so you may haveto find a new path in life.
And already having four or five sixyears of training and goals that I've already
(10:05):
set up in my mind, itwas something to digest. But you know,
most people look at the doctor's words, as you know, sign sealed,
delivered. And it took a whilefor me to understand that maybe I
can take my own career in myhands, you know, with faith,
with the right type of motivation andsupport, anything is possible. And so
(10:28):
I remember the last day I wasin the hospital, when I went in
in a wheelchair, I said thatI was going to walk out of here,
and that I did. And onceI walked out, I got back
home and I said to myself,I'm actually going to go to the gym.
The doctors told me not even tobe in the gym's vicinity, let
(10:50):
alone. You know, have dreamsand aspirations of coming back to the sport.
So I do remember coming back andmy very first day, which was
maybe too early, but it wasa week and a half. Two weeks
after I got back home from thehospital, I went to the gym,
and you know, the journey started. But ultimately it was the feeling of
(11:13):
taking my career into my own handsthat sparked everything. So how did all
this change your life? The cancerdiagnosis, the cancer fight, and the
post cancer come back. Well changemy life based off of my perspective on
life. That gave me something toappreciate. You know, I was young,
(11:37):
up and coming, and you know, you view a lot of successful
people in a way where sometimes theymay take their life or a career for
granted, and you know, sometimesguys get too ahead of themselves. I
always wanted to remain humble, andso I remember saying the prayer maybe two
years before the cancer diagnosis, andacting, God, how can I remain
(12:01):
humble? Because if I become theperson that I want to become, I
know there's going to be a lotof distractions and I don't want to lose
sight or who I am, whereI come from. And you know what
it means to be a genuine humbleBrooklyn Night. So during that whole process
of the cancer, you know,there was one day where I looked at
it as how could something like thishappened to me? You know, how
(12:24):
could I be such a young,promising, career healthy, you know,
athletic guy that could suffer such adiagnosis. But then I realized that maybe
this was like the biggest blessing tome, because you know, I was
very fortunate just to have life alone, and so to be humble, there's
only really truly understanding and appreciating whatyou have in the moment, and just
(12:48):
the fact that I was able tobe present from my son, who was
a little kid at the time,was the biggest blessing in the world.
And to have an opportunity to justwalk again, you see my family again,
be outside. Being in the hospitalfor two months in a wheelchair was
just one of the worst experiences thatyou know, anyone can go through.
(13:09):
And so I just appreciated really justthe small things, and I believe that
God blessed me with the world andall of the accomplishments that I had afterwards,
because I chose to remain humble andappreciative to do you in any way
give back to the cancer community.Oh? Absolutely, well. We started
(13:31):
years ago once I came out ofthe hospital and got back on my feet
and was able to be mobile.We started a nonprofit organization that you know,
focuses on kids with cancer and kidswith also teaching them how to be
more healthy, and also based offof the fact that I started boxing off
(13:52):
of being picked on in school.We collaborated all three so it was a
mixture of things, and we gaveback to the community generously, and we
spent our time, a lot ofour time actually in hospitals talking to different
kids and just seeing some of theyou know, the pain and being a
token of light to some of thosekids too, where all the day worries
(14:16):
was just not even present in themoment that we were there. It was
the biggest blessing that I can receive. Well, congratulations Daniel Jacobs. Tomorrow,
Brooklyn is declaring Daniel Jacob's day,Daniel miracle Man Jacobs becoming the WBC
(14:37):
middleweight Champion after surviving cancer, thefirst cancer survivor to ever accomplish this feat.
All of New York is so proudof you. You are just an
awesome human being, and congratulations.You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio,
a production of New York's classic rockQ one O four point three
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