EAGLE, Idaho — 13-year-old Jeremiah San Nicolas loves game days. He plays for the Eagle Middle School Colts.
"Just the intensity of the game and being able to be out on the field with everyone else," Jeremiah San Nicolas said. "This season I feel like I have a connection with every single one of my teammates."
Jerimiah is in the 8th grade, he's just 4 foot 10 inches tall, and 75 pounds. He was born with a long list of health problems. He's struggled with them most of his life.
"He deals with bone dysplasia, he deals with MS, he has a heart valve issue, and he needs surgery, he's had severe scoliosis, and also needs surgery for that. There is more, too. So, he is a walking medical miracle all together. And with the right surgeons and a little bit of help from God, he'll be okay," said Jeremiah's mom, Joanne San Nicolas.
Jeremiah's mom Joanne worries about him getting hurt, but she knows this is where his heart is. She never misses a game.
"He absolutely loves football, and not only does he love football, but he considers this his family," Joanne said. "The coaches always try to put him in, they very much put his safety first, which is 100 percent the priority."
Football is his passion. This kid will not let anything hold him back. He wants to be on that field with his team, and that's just where he has been all season. Jeremiah is new to Eagle Middle School this year. This is is a new team, and a new start. His mom said that's just what he needed.
"You know, Jeremiah has had coaches in the past who unfortunately viewed him as a problem, and this coach has just taken it to a whole new level," Joanne said.
That coach who has changed his life for the better, is EMS Head Football Coach Justin Eastland. He is so inspired by Jeremiah. He said being able to coach him this year has been life changing.
"He just never quits, never quits on life, on football, on his teammates, his coaches or his family," Eastland said. "He's got all the heart in the world, and from the day he was born he came into this world, and he's had to fight for every scrap he can get. He inspires his teammates to be better than they are. He inspires the coaches to coach better, the players to play better, he inspires the other team."
Coach Eastland knows how important it is to keep Jeremiah safe on the field, and so do his fellow teammates. They take pride in protecting him during plays.
"We have to devise ways of getting Jeremiah out on the field where he can stay out of harms way. The other guys get out there and they play, and they hit hard. They open those gaps on the field to let Jeremiah get in so he can have something that's his own," Eastland said.
This season he definitely had that moment. He ran for a touchdown.
"I just grabbed these two kids who play for us, and I said listen, nobody touches Jeremiah. We get him into the end zone untouched," Eastland said. "This was the play of a lifetime. He didn't just get it from the one-yard line, he got to run 65 yards!"
It was a run Jeremiah will never forget. He still smiles when he talks about it.
"It feels really good," Jeremiah said. "Really good that I got to get in the end zone with my teammates!"
Sadly, this is Jeremiah's last season. His doctors recently told him playing in the future is just too risky. That was a huge blow to him. He has major heart and scoliosis surgeries ahead of him, and his medical bills are mounting. His upcoming surgeries will be astronomical in cost, leaving his mom wondering how they will pay for it all.
Coach Eastland was devastated to hear the news, and he wanted to help. He put together a Go Fund Me, and he shared from his heart about how much Jeremiah means to him, and to the team.
"It was every kind of word that he could have thought to say about him, it encapsulated everything he brings to everyone else," Joanne said.
She was so touched by the Eastland's gesture; "Thank you for showing him that he's a person, and not a problem."
The donations are coming in, and Coach Eastland said he is so grateful to the community.
"Thank you to everyone who donated," Eastland said. "I believe it's important that we take what we have, no matter how much it is, and just give a little bit to him so he can have the same quality of life that everyone else gets to have in this valley. We are a blessed valley and I want him to be a part of that."
Jeremiah San Nicolas has found a home at Eagle Middle School. He was awarded the Student Athlete of the Week award last week, right after the season wrapped up. He said if he can't play next year at Eagle High School, he will come back to EMS and help coach. He just wants to be a part of the game he loves so much. He is determined to be out there on the field, no matter what role.
"He doesn't take no for an answer, not from me not from coaches, not from the biggest kids on the field," Joanne said. "He believes in himself. It's so inspiring."
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