Fernando Mendoza's mom Elsa shares heartbreaking MS details on Heisman Trophy night

Fernando Mendoza has been mocked for his viral postgame interview after the Indiana Hoosiers won the Big Ten title — in football, not basketball.

And let's be honest, it was rather cheesy.

Fernando Mendoza’s post game interview is everything 🥹 pic.twitter.com/VcUL4tBeZ2
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 7, 2025

But it's hard to make fun of the AP College Football Player of the Year and Heisman Trophy winner, unless something crazy happens tonight, when you learn how much the 22-year-old quarterback has overcome to not only get to New York City to win the most prestigious award in college football, but also what his family, especially his mom, Elsa, has battled with her multiple sclerosis to be able to celebrate together as a family, along with his brother Alberto, who is his backup QB and their dad, Fernando Mendoza Sr.

“My gentle giant. My darling son. My buddy. My teammate. I believe in you with every part of me.”

For Fernando, from his mother, Elsa. ❤️ https://t.co/aDKpXpJ4TO pic.twitter.com/nLnwjaPRar
— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) December 13, 2025

The Mendoza matriarch shared new details about her harrowing journey with MS, especially as it pertains to her sons.

Mrs. Mendoza, in a long note to her son on The Players' Tribune, reveals she didn't tell her sons for an extremely long time, having been diagnosed 18 years ago. That all changed five years ago, when Covid hit her brutally hard, along with a devastating skiing injury, and for the first time, she couldn't attend his games all the time.

Dec 13, 2025; New York, NY, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza poses with the Heisman trophy during a press conference at the New York Marriott Marquis. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

"I realized I wasn’t going to be able to travel," Elsa wrote. "And the thought of you wondering if I supported you any less, because suddenly I wasn’t at your games? I hated that. So that’s when I knew we had to sit you and your brother down. No amount of years could have prepared me for how hard of a conversation it ended up being. Your mom has this degenerative disease … and while we don’t know how it will progress, it’s going to start to affect us in a few ways. But it won’t affect us in the ways that matter. We’ll have each other, and love each other, and be there for each other. I promise."

Then Elsa admitted she was embarrassed.

"I started to have to walk with a crutch … then for a while I had to do chemo … and then Covid added this whole other layer of concern about me getting sick. And I think I started to feel a mental toll from all of that of like, Oh my God. I’m your mom!!! You’re my kids!!! I’m not YOUR responsibility, you’re MINE!!! It wasn’t easy. Honestly, it will never be easy."

Luckily her son's can-do attitude and positivity, even it's cheesy looking by outsiders, has been life-changing for the former Miami Hurricanes tennis player too.

"You’ve made it so much easier. And you’ve done that in the sweetest, strongest, most Fernando way possible — by making me feel the exact opposite of embarrassed. You’ve made me feel seen."

The rest of the world has seen the Mendozas now, and it's a truly inspiring story for mother and son that will culminate tonight in a Heisman Trophy.

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