{"id":129089,"date":"2026-04-23T22:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/fernando-mendoza-embraces-wheelchair-bound-mom-after-raiders-select-him-no-1-overall-129089"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:32:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:32:24","slug":"fernando-mendoza-embraces-wheelchair-bound-mom-after-raiders-select-him-no-1-overall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/fernando-mendoza-embraces-wheelchair-bound-mom-after-raiders-select-him-no-1-overall-129089","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza embraces wheelchair-bound mom after Raiders select him No 1 overall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Fernando Mendoza shared the moment of being selected first overall<\/a> in the NFL Draft with his family from home on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

He was seen hugging his family, including his mother Elsa Mendoza, in a moment of celebration.<\/p>\n

Despite being projected to be the first overall pick, Mendoza skipped the in-person draft in Pittsburgh<\/a> to stay in Florida with his mother, who battles multiple sclerosis (MS) and is bound to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When Mendoza was only about 4 years old, his mother was diagnosed with the disease. It is a chronic, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that can affect the brain and spinal cord. She has spent the last few years in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

Elsa Mendoza wrote about the experience in a 2015 letter to her sons that was published in The Players Tribune.<\/p>\n

“I was diagnosed about 18 years ago, but of course you never knew that. You and Alberto were<\/a> so young, and I was doing fine\u2026 and mostly I didn\u2019t want you to worry. It just felt like this impossible thing to place on you guys. On my sweet boys. And then I kept doing fine until about 10 years ago, when we went skiing and I broke my ankle and knee,” she wrote.<\/p>\n

“But even after that, I wasn\u2019t quite ready to tell you \u2014 only that my leg hadn\u2019t healed all the way, which is why your mom had her limp. It wasn\u2019t until five years ago, when I got Covid, that things started to go downhill in a way where there was no more hiding it. It was during football season<\/a>, and I realized I wasn\u2019t going to be able to travel. And the thought of you wondering if I supported you any less, because suddenly I wasn\u2019t at your games? I hated that. So that\u2019s when I knew we had to sit you and your brother down.”<\/p>\n

INDIANA FOOTBALL STAR AND HIS BROTHER TURN THEIR NAMESAKE BURGER INTO BATTLE AGAINST MS<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

She went on to recall, “how hard of a conversation it ended up being. ‘Your mom has this degenerative disease\u2026 and while we don\u2019t know how it will progress, it\u2019s going to start to affect us in a few ways. But it won\u2019t affect us in the ways that matter. We\u2019ll have each other, and love each other, and be there for each other. I promise.'”<\/p>\n

Both of Mednzoa’s parents grew up in Miami, Florida,<\/a> as the children of Cuban refugees who fled communism after Fidel Castro rose to power in the country.<\/p>\n

Mendoza’s father, Fernando Mendoza Sr., was a rower at Brown University and a 1987 Junior World Championships gold medalist.<\/p>\n

But Mendoza’s father also played football when he was younger, and was teammates with Miami Hurricanes<\/u><\/a> head coach Mario Cristobal at Christopher Columbus High School during the 1980s. Mendoza would go on to defeat his father’s former teammate in this year’s CFP national championship game.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, his mother played tennis at the University of Miami.<\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s <\/em><\/strong>sports coverage on X<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and subscribe to <\/em><\/strong>the Fox News Sports<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/a> Huddle newsletter<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/fernando-mendoza-embraces-wheelchair-bound-mom-raiders-select-1-overall <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fernando Mendoza shared the moment of being selected first overall in the NFL Draft with his family from home on Thursday night. 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