Ron Rivera’s family say Washington football coach is cancer free

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Washington football coach Ron Rivera was declared cancer-free after an exam Thursday, according to tweets from his wife, Stephanie, and daughter, Courtney.

Stephanie Rivera tweeted: “Prayers have been answered. Thanks to all the Drs and Nurses who ‘coached’ us @RiverboatRonHC and me and gave us the winning game plan to beat cancer. The PET scan has it all. said, cancer you lost this fight! #RiveraStrong “

Courtney Rivera tweeted that she had just “hung up the phone with mom and dad leaving the hospital @RiverboatRonHC officially cancer free !!!”

Courtney Rivera works as a producer for Washington Social Media.

Ron Rivera announced on August 20 that he had been diagnosed with squamous cell cancer and was scheduled to undergo seven weeks of treatment during the season, which included three cycles of chemotherapy and proton therapy five days a week.

He ended his treatment on October 26. That day, video captured the moment he walked down the hallway of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute flanked by cheering medical staff – all wearing black ‘Rivera Strong’ t-shirts – culminating in his ringing a bell to signify the end.

Although her prognosis was good from the start, the treatments had negative consequences. He needed to use a golf cart during training and his energy level declined. But he only missed three practices and never missed a game, although he admitted that a week into the season he was on the verge of taking a break. But he succeeded.

He had to adjust his daily routine. He would take naps throughout the day – after videoconferencing sessions with reporters, for example. His wife or daughter would drive him home in the late afternoon or early evening, because fatigue overwhelmed him.

“Sometimes you get nauseous,” he said in October. “Sometimes your balance is disturbed, almost a feeling of dizziness. And then nausea. It hits you anytime, anywhere. But fatigue, working out limited me, and it bothers me because that I can’t coach as I coach. “

Rivera, 59, lost 36 pounds and weighed 232 at one point – six pounds under his playing weight with the Chicago Bears in the 1980s.

“I was amazed. Usually our patients, halfway through, stop working,” Dr. John Deeken, oncologist and president of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, told ESPN in November. “Most of our patients nearing the end of their treatment are on the verge of having to be hospitalized because there are so many complications.”

Rivera and Washington were rewarded by winning the NFC East. Washington has won five of its last seven games to finish 7-9 before losing to Tampa Bay in the playoff round. Players have said throughout the season that watching Rivera fight cancer has inspired them. The coaches said it made a difference.

“This team, looking at him, understood when he said we were going to have opportunities and we were going to win and we will change the culture; they saw it firsthand because they saw what he was going to do. live, ”said the assistant. defensive back coach Richard Rodgers in December. “He stayed consistent in what he wanted to do.”

Rivera has said he would like to become an advocate for affordable health care. Her brother Mickey died of pancreatic cancer in 2015.

“After going through it and seeing how expensive it is … you say to yourself, ‘Damn, how can people afford what is not in the situation or in the position that I am? ‘,’ he said in November. “It really helped shape my point of view, just telling myself and telling myself that we need some kind of affordable care in the United States for everyone.”



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