Jon Batiste Says Wife Suleika Jaouad’s Leukemia ‘Has Been a Blessing’: ‘You Realize How Much Really Matters’

• Jon Batiste said his wife Suleika Jaouad’s battle with leukemia “was a blessing for us”
• The Grammy winner said it made them “realize how important it really is.”
• Bestselling author Jaouad is undergoing treatment for her second leukemia

Musician Jon Batiste shares the surprising way his wife Suleika Jaouad’s battle with leukemia made them even more grateful for everything they have together — even calling it a blessing.

“It’s a miracle,” the first The Late Show with Stephen Colbert the band leader said during a performance on Monday at Sherri. “She is doing much better after the transplant.”

Jaouad, author of best-selling memoirs Between two kingdomshe underwent a bone marrow transplant in February 2022 — right after the couple secretly married.

But Jaouad, 35, said Batiste, 36, told her her illness was not a factor in his proposal.

“He told me, ‘I just want to be very clear, I’m not proposing to you because of this diagnosis. It took me a year to design your ring. So just know that this time has nothing to do with it. But what I want you to know is that this the diagnosis doesn’t change anything. It’s just clearer to me that I want to commit to this and to be together,” said Jaouad.

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Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

Why Jon Batiste married Suleika Jaouad at home amid her battle with leukemia: ‘It was a very profound time in our lives’

“But when we realized we had that little window before the bone marrow transplant, we went for it.”

Batiste and Jaouad were able to get a marriage license quickly and had a “small” and “perfect” wedding, adding that they “used bread ties” instead of formal wedding rings.

“And I’ll tell you, we got into that bone marrow transplant unit on cloud nine,” Jaouad added. “We were so happy, so full of love and positivity because of this wonderful evening that we had. And I really believe that got us through.”

The Grammy-winning musician echoed that sentiment on Monday Sherri, saying, “When you get so close to the veil of life, you realize how important it really is. You realize how much we have right now, and that’s really all we have. This one. ”

“So, as wild as it is to say, I think this season has been a blessing for us.”

Last month, Batiste told PEOPLE that his wife is doing “great” amid her treatments, and recently he was even able to paraglide over the Swiss mountains.

“This year we were able to do things that were impossible last year,” he said. “She deeply appreciates life and existence in the world. Everything is going as well as it can and we just pray that it continues.”

Suleika Jaouad with Lizzie Presser.

Suleika Jaouad Batiste/Instagram

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Jaouad was just 22 when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a form of leukemia that affects the blood and bone marrow. According to an interview with S. from March 2021 Health magazine, she was given a 35% chance of survival.

She documented her experience as a young adult battling cancer in The New York Times columns and video series, Life, cut short, which won an Emmy Award. On December 1, 2021, Jaouad announced in her newsletter that her leukemia had returned.

Jaouad is still undergoing treatment – and recently shared a photo on her Instagram taken by her husband in a hospital bed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

“Still winning,” she captioned a photo of herself playing a word game with her best friend, journalist Lizzie Presser.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education