Even before Fernando Mendoza had received something like the 2025 Heisman Award, his mother, Elsa, already had an apt tag for him: a true teammate. And no, it wasn’t solely because of his contributions to the game, but because of how he stood strong behind her as she battled a disease that has left her wheelchair bound. Now, the Las Vegas Raiders have taken her son as the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh today. But true to his tag, Mendoza had to do something for his team first.

Until 2020, the parents kept Elsa’s diagnosis a secret until her health started to go further “downhill.” Yet, she showed up to all of Mendoza’s football games. She was right there when her son received the prestigious Heisman Trophy and shared an emotional speech during which he dedicated the award to his mom. Today, as a similar kind gesture for the support he’s received, Mendoza is launching the Mendoza Family Fund in partnership with the National MS Society to fight multiple sclerosis.

“An announcement from the National MS Society: Fernando Mendoza is personally committing $500,000 to support MS research at the University of Miami,” noted Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna on X, breaking the news.

Elsa was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2008, an autoimmune disorder where the immune system “mistakenly attacks healthy cells,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. MS symptoms vary by person and can depend on where in the nervous system, and how severe the damage is, though common symptoms include numbness, vision changes, and difficulty walking, according to the Mayo Clinic. Researchers don’t know yet what exactly causes MS, a condition that is estimated to affect nearly 1 million people in the United States. There is no cure yet, though treatments do exist to help manage symptoms.

Now, the fund Mendoza has created will go directly to the University of Miami Health System for research on MS. While the 22-year-old will be donating the money to the University, it will be a national initiative aimed at funding research. It looks to speed up the current treatment procedure, offer necessary mentorship to the patients, and support future health services. The donation specifically supports programs at UHealth and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, with the National MS Society confirming the partnership as part of a broader effort to expand research access and patient support networks nationwide.

Although Fernando is hours away from landing his first professional contract, being a top-ranked college player, he has approximately $2.6 million in income through NIL deals, which is why he is currently capable of making such a generous donation. Moreover, with key sponsorships with Adidas, T-Mobile, Dr Pepper, and Royal Canin, his NIL earnings ranked him among the highest-earning collegiate stars entering the 2026 draft cycle.

This initiative also reflects a broader advocacy track record that stretches back to his college years at both Cal and Indiana, where Mendoza regularly tied NIL opportunities and community campaigns to MS awareness and fundraising.

Mendoza announced the fund on Instagram hours before the 2026 NFL Draft, detailing its partnership with the National MS Society and its goal of making a difference for those dealing with the disease, just like Elsa Mendoza.

“This fund is about my mom and the millions of people living with MS,” Mendoza said in a statement. “My mom has taught our family strength, resilience, and positivity… She’s the reason we fight, and the reason we believe we can do something bigger than ourselves.”

The donation to UHealth and the university’s Miller School of Medicine was announced Thursday by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as the graduate of Miami’s Christopher Columbus High School waits at home with his family for the results of the 2026 NFL Draft, where he’s projected to be the overall No. 1 pick by the Las Vegas Raiders.

“We’re grateful for the support of the National MS Society and the Mendoza Family Fund. The University of Miami Health System and Miller School of Medicine share their commitment to a world free of MS, and we value this opportunity to accelerate our work discovering, developing, and delivering treatments for all patients,” UHealth CEO Dr. Dipen Parekh told the Miami Herald in a statement.

Rather than attending the draft in Pittsburgh, Mendoza chose to remain in Miami with his family, explaining that staying home made travel easier given his mother’s condition. “My mom really wanted to do it at home… it’s a lot easier for us with the family situation,” he said earlier this week on The Rich Eisen Show.

Meanwhile, Mendoza’s announcement also formally introduced the Mendoza Family Fund as a long-term initiative tied directly to his family’s experience with MS rather than a one-time contribution ahead of the draft. In fact, the $500,000 commitment builds on several years of sustained fundraising work by Mendoza and his family alongside the National MS Society, with earlier grassroots campaigns already generating more than $360,000.

Mendoza, his brother Alberto and their family have previously helped raise over $360,000 through “DIY” fundraising efforts, including partnering with a California restaurant to launch a “Mendoza Burrito” to help raise funds for the National MS Society and raise awareness about the disease, according to the National MS Society. Similar restaurant-based NIL partnerships later continued in Bloomington as well, where Mendoza-linked menu collaborations helped push combined fundraising totals from those campaigns past the $150,000 mark for MS-related causes.

Some of those earlier fundraising efforts began during his college years and continued through his transfer-portal rise and eventual national championship season at Indiana, making the new fund a continuation rather than a starting point of the family’s advocacy work. During Indiana’s championship-season run, additional fan-driven MS Society fundraising efforts tied to Mendoza’s visibility on the national stage surpassed early campaign targets and eventually crossed the $220,000 mark.

The new Mendoza Family Fund is expected to help accelerate their work and channel the movement they’ve created “into critical research and programs that will change lives and ultimately help us end MS,” Tim Coetzee, president and CEO of the National MS Society, said in a statement.

Mendoza’s decision to select the University of Miami to be the fund’s first official recipient also seems to be another full-circle moment for the South Florida native and Heisman Trophy winner. His mom, Elsa, once played on the Miami Hurricanes women’s tennis team, according to USA Today.

Mendoza has his own history with the U. Mendoza, who was denied a walk-on spot to play for the Miami Hurricanes, earlier this year led the Indiana Hoosiers to victory against the Hurricanes, defeating the team 27-21 during the CFP National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium, securing Indiana’s first national title. The performance capped one of the most dramatic seasons in program history and helped position Mendoza as the consensus favorite to become the first Indiana quarterback ever selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft era.

Mendoza said Thursday that “partnering with the National MS Society through the Mendoza Family Fund gives us the opportunity to turn inspiration into real impact by advancing groundbreaking research and helping families like mine navigate this disease.”

That connection to his mother’s journey has remained central to many of the biggest moments of his career. During his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, Mendoza told her, “Mami, this is your trophy as much as it is mine… You’re my light, you’re my why.” He has repeatedly pointed to her resilience as the foundation of his approach to football as well, once explaining that watching her fight MS daily leaves him feeling “there’s no excuse for me to have a bad day, bad play or bad game.”

While the announcement highlighted the personal motivation behind his advocacy work, the night still carried historic significance on the football field as well. Hours later, Mendoza’s long-expected destination finally became official.

Fernando Mendoza caps historic college run by becoming Raiders’ No. 1 overall pick

Fernando Mendoza was selected first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, confirming what had been widely expected throughout the pre-draft process after his Heisman Trophy campaign and national championship season at Indiana. The 22-year-old became just the third player in modern college football history to win the Heisman Trophy, lead his team to a national title, and be selected No. 1 overall in the same year, joining Cam Newton in 2011 and Joe Burrow in 2020.

When the Raiders’ call finally came through, the significance of the moment still landed with full force. “When I saw that call, I got a whole lot of chills on my entire body, and I was ecstatic,” Mendoza said afterward. “There’s a lot of emotion, even right now. However, I understand this is not the end of the journey… this is the start of a new thing.”

The Raiders themselves had little hesitation about the selection. General manager John Spytek acknowledged the organization’s confidence in the decision well before draft night arrived. “There was no mystery in terms of, we controlled our own destiny today,” Spytek said. “This was a fun day to know exactly where we were going to end up because the decision had been made.” He later added that Mendoza’s competitiveness and leadership traits stood out consistently during the evaluation process, calling him “a hard-working, driven, extremely smart young man… a guy that loves football.”

Mendoza now enters a quarterback room that includes veteran Kirk Cousins and Aidan O’Connell, with expectations already high for the franchise’s newest cornerstone player. Raiders minority owner Tom Brady also welcomed the selection publicly, writing, “Welcome to Las Vegas. Time to get to work,” while Mendoza himself said before the draft that Brady had already expressed willingness to mentor whichever quarterback the team selected—something he described as an opportunity he was “looking forward to.”