For Jacob Ramos, winning a district championship will always be a career and life highlight for him.

How he got there is even more momentous. Ramos also proved that anything can be possible.

Ramos, a senior, won the District 11 Class 2A Championship when he edged North Schuylkill’s Sander Stokes, 7-6, in the 285-pound weight class for his first district title. A week earlier, Rams claimed his inaugural Colonial League crown.

He will go for the trifecta at the Southeast Regional at Freedom High School this weekend.

“When I won the Colonial league championship, it was a great feeling,” noted Ramos. “Getting the district title was even better.”

It was a pair of remarkable feats, considering Ramos only began his varsity wrestling career last season.

Even more remarkable is that Ramos lost his right eye last April due to rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer form that starts as a growth of cells in soft tissue.

In fourth grade, Ramos noticed his right eye had swelled to the size of a tennis ball. He began treatment and beat the cancer in fifth grade. But it returned in sixth grade and Ramos again beat it.

The cancer returned again and surgery was recommended in eighth grade to have the eye removed, as 90 percent of his cornea was scratched. Ramos underwent a second surgery this past summer.

“When I was young and I had cancer, I thought I was going to die,” he recalled. “But I knew I just had to keep working hard, and things would work out.”

Unfortunately, Ramos saw cancer relapses after playing football, a sport he has been passionate about since he started playing at the age of five.

Ramos transferred from Dieruff to Catasauqua after his freshman year - in which he didn’t play sports - and he found a home. Over the past three football seasons, Ramos has been an invaluable two-way tackle and captain.

However, Ramos often thought that he would never play sports again. But, he never relinquished his faith.

“I had to work to beat cancer two times, and it was a very tough time in my life,” stressed Ramos. “I didn’t think I would be able to play sports again.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the help of the man above. I’m glad I won the battle, and where I am now.”

Ramos also had to overcome the fear of his fate.

“I was scared when I transferred and decided to get back into sports,” said Ramos. “I have faced the fear and not let it bother me anymore.”

Head coach Jon Reed soon won’t forget the heroics of his senior heavyweight.

“Jacob’s match was huge,” gushed Reed. “It was one of the biggest wins that I have been a part of in my 25 years of coaching. To win a district title after only two years goes to show anything is possible with hard work, perseverance, and determination.

“It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person. Jacob has worked extremely hard and had this goal set for an entire season. It is a great way for our other wrestlers to see that if you work to achieve your goals, anything is possible.”

With Ramos, there isn’t a better example of that.