There's no opponent too big for the Male Charlie McGill scholarship winner

Kelvin Medina had no doubt in his mind. He was going to be a football player.

So what that he's only 5-foot-6 on a good day?

He didn't beat cancer and the rigors of chemotherapy only to give up on his true passion. He didn't learn how to walk again just to sit on the sideline at Eastside High School.

For years, the sport carried him through the lowest of lows. It would take him to the highest of highs.

"This kid is resilient," his mother, Blanca Goden, said. "When he sets his mind to do something, there's nobody and nothing that's going to stop him."

Medina, 19, is living life to the fullest after beating leukemia in elementary school.

He went on to become a rare three-time captain for the Eastside football team. An honor-roll student at the Panther Academy. A busy teenager with a job at the Applegate Farm ice cream shop in Montclair.

Hours after accepting his high school diploma, he will receive the Charlie McGill Scholarship at the North Jersey Sports Awards on Tuesday night.

It's a rare day in the spotlight for Medina, who was the starting center for the resurgent Ghosts' program.

Senior lineman Jahsin Jacobs described him as the "quiet kid with a big heart" who always put his head down and worked.

"My coaches had faith in me," Medina said. "That brought my confidence way up. So I wanted to work hard and do it for my team and for my coaches."

Medina's world took a turn one Friday night – not under the bright lights at Bauerle Field – but a mile down the road.

It all started when he was 8.

The diagnosis

Medina started to feel peculiar a few weeks before finding the real culprit.

He noticed a stabbing pain in his right side and often came down with headaches or nausea. His weight dropped. His energy level sagged.

Doctors pinned it on a stomach virus, but things didn't add up when the symptoms persisted after a couple of days. Teachers were concerned when Kelvin showed up to class feeling sleepy.

"From his school to our house was literally five minutes," Goden said. "He would sit in the back of the car and he would be knocked out in a deep REM sleep. I'm like, how is this even possible? It's only five minutes. Who can sleep this fast?"

One Friday morning, the side pain became too hard to manage in class. Goden said she pulled her son out for a CT scan, which showed that an infection enlarged his kidney to the size of a football.

Within hours, Medina was taken to St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson. Later that night came the news that Medina had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. There was a tumor in his chest and cancer cells in his kidney.

"I really didn't know what that was since I was such a young age," Medina said. "They explained to me what it was. I really didn't get sad about it or depressed. I just fought through it and had my head held high."

Medina spent the next 15 days in the hospital – including a week in an induced coma – after getting a port put in. It was just the start of a long battle for Medina, who had chemo treatments from 2011 to 2014.

The monotony of daily appointments took a physical toll, as well as a mental one.

"I was drained," Medina said. "I forgot how to walk when I was in the hospital because I was always in the bed. I was 56 pounds. They told me I had to walk around the hospital, but I didn't want to because I was so attached to that bed that I didn't feel like moving at all."

Football became a beacon of light during a dark time. Medina perks up talking about the day he sat in coach Tom Coughlin's suite for a preseason game between the Giants and his beloved Patriots.

Godon laughs that trips to the store always came with a request for a new pigskin.

"I have like 10 footballs in my trunk," Goden said. "He would sleep with a football. He would take it to school. Everywhere you saw him, he had a football in his hand."

"Even the hospital," Kelvin said. "It puts a smile on face."

The comeback

Godon, a single mother of six, watched Medina grow up before her eyes. Medina was conscientious about what he could and couldn't eat and when he needed to take his medications.

Eventually, he was declared cancer-free on June 9, 2014. Visits to the oncologist have whittled down from every month to now only once a year.

Despite all he encountered, Medina had no second thoughts about signing up for a football camp with the Silk City Cardinals.

"We did some drills and I was like the most energetic kid out there, diving for the ball, tackling the dummies," Medina said. "That was a good experience for me."

When he got to high school, Medina had the option of playing for Eastside or Kennedy. He chose the Ghosts because he knew more players there and had a connection with one of the assistants.

It didn't take long for the coaching staff to put Medina in a position of power. By sophomore year, Medina was the starting center with a new role as team captain.

Medina admits there were butterflies at first when he lined up with the Eastside offense. Pretty much every game, he would be asked to block a bigger player.

"As soon as I got that first contact, it all went away," Medina said. "I knew what his weakness was and what he was going to do. All they do is see my height and they want to bull rush."

Since that first snap, the 235-pound Medina has opened up plenty of holes for Eastside during a breakthrough era. The Ghosts have finished with a winning record for three straight seasons (their best streak since 1959-63) and broke a 15-year drought last fall by reaching the sectional finals.

As for Medina, he's still waiting to hear back from some local colleges, but already knows he wants a career in the medical field. His goal is to help children who are going through what he once experienced.

By now, he's learned a thing or two about staring down a big opponent and coming out the other side.

"It changed me a lot. It changed my perspective on life," Medina said. "Not to take my life for granted at all. Every day, just get up and do what I got to do and put a smile on my face."

Sean Farrell is a high school sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app. 

Email: farrells@northjersey.com 

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Kelvin Medina of Paterson NJ Eastside says no opponent is too big