Ryan Martino, a Long Island teenager, is graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA and receiving a $125,000 college scholarship. Impressive in its own right, the circumstances that he did it under makes it a very special achievement.
Martino did all this while battling cancer, stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After feeling a lump in his neck, he was taken to the doctor and diagnosed in the middle of eighth grade.
Martino discussed on Fox News how he felt receiving his diagnosis right before he started his freshman year of high school.
“I sat there in shock for a while, and it really took me a while to process what it was, and it was very weird at first. I couldn't even say the word 'cancer.' It took me a while, and you just had to stick through it,” Martino says.
During the first semester of his freshman year, he was going through chemotherapy. He had to stop playing baseball, due to the sickness. However, he found love for something new that he says helped take his mind off his situation.
“I became a caddy, started golfing, and my life just turned into golf. It took my mind off treatment,” Martino states.
He also stayed busy with his studies, and now four years later, all his hard work has paid off. His 4.0 GPA and $125,000 college scholarship are a testament to his work ethic and resilience.
Martino is also in remission.
He gave teenagers some advice on how to deal with adversity, having survived some of the hardest challenges that one might face at such a young age.
“To anyone out there who's struggling, it's always going to get better, and you just have to stick through it because, as you can see through me, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Always,” Martino says.
