Daniel Jacobs knows as well as anyone what it feels like to be lying in a hospital bed, going toe-to-toe with cancer.
Daniel Jacobs visits with kids Tuesday at Gilda's Club in Warminster, Pennsylvania. (Kathryn Brown/Get In The Ring Foundation)
He had his own battle with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in 2011. It’s a battle he won, and that victory became, understandably, a turning point in his life. That's how Daniel Jacobs became the "Miracle Man." It’s why he started the Get in the Ring Foundation to help battle bullying, obesity and cancer.
Jacobs, who is preparing to fight Sergio Mora on August 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, made the rounds to Gilda’s Club in Warminster, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday and to Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York on Wednesday to visit with sick kids.
“I’ve visited a couple of sick kids, but I’ve never been to a facility or a hospital or institute where there were a large group of kids that were sick,” Jacobs said. “Some kids were too sick to even respond to me, or too sick to get out of bed or take a picture. They didn’t say anything to me. That was a bit shocking to me because I haven’t really seen anything like that. Everything I’ve been through, I’ve been in the hospital, I’ve had times where I didn’t really feel good, I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, so I understood that. But these kids’ circumstances are much worse than mine, so it kind of hit me hard.”
Jacobs jumped rope with the kids, took pictures and let them try on his championship belt. One of the sick kids, Julio, stood out to Jacobs for selling ribbons and beads for 50 cents a pop to help pay the bills. He had a jar full of money sitting next to his bed. Hustle doesn't take time off, not even for cancer.
“It’s just such a good feeling,” Jacobs said. “I’m not just making my family proud, but I’m doing my purpose that God gave me a second chance for.”
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- Beyond the ring
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