Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team without cancer

by

Washington football team coach Ron Rivera was declared cancer-free after a review Thursday.

Rivera, who announced Aug. 20 that he had squamous cell cancer, tweeted thanks Thursday for the support he received during his treatment and recovery.

“Thank you all for your prayers, letters, texts and notes of encouragement and support. It really made a difference in my treatment and recovery! #RiveraStrong @WashingtonNFL,” he wrote.

This post on social media came after his wife, Stephanie, and daughter, Courtney, went on social media Thursday earlier to announce that Rivera had defeated cancer.

“Prayers have been answered. To all the doctors and nurses who” trained “us @RiverboatRonHC and I and gave us the winning game plan to defeat cancer. The PET scan said it all, cancer, you lost this fight! #RiveraStrong “Stephanie Rivera tweeted.

Added Courtney, who works as a social media producer in Washington: “I just got off the phone with mom and dad coming out of the hospital @RiverboatRonHC is officially cancer free !!!”

Ron Rivera needed to undergo seven weeks of cancer treatment during the season, which included three rounds of chemotherapy and proton therapy five days a week.

He finished treatment on October 26th. That day, a video captured the moment he walked down the aisle of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, flanked by lively medical staff (all in black “Rivera Strong” T-shirts), which culminated in ringing a bell to signify the final.

Although his prognosis was good from the beginning, the treatments took their toll. He needed to use a golf cart during practice and his energy level decreased. But he only missed three workouts and never missed a game, although he admitted that a week early in the season was about to stop. But he pulled ahead.

He had to adjust his daily routine. I would take naps all day, after video conferencing sessions with reporters, for example. His wife or daughter would take him home late in the afternoon or early in the evening, as fatigue overwhelmed him.

“Sometimes you get nauseous,” he said in October. “Sometimes your balance is messy, almost a feeling of vertigo. And then nausea. It hits you anytime, anywhere. But the fatigue, going out to practice it, limited me and that bothers me because I can’t I train with I train “.

Rivera, 59, lost 36 pounds and weighed 232 at one point – six pounds underweight 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. “Most of our patients towards the end of treatment are very close to the need to be hospitalized because there are so many complications.”

Rivera and Washington were rewarded with winning the NFC East. Washington won five of its last seven games to finish 7-9 before losing to Tampa Bay in the playoff round of the playoffs. Players said throughout the season that watching Rivera fight cancer helped inspire them. Coaches said it made a difference.

“This team, watching him, understood when he said we would have opportunities and win and change the culture; they saw it first hand because they saw why it would happen,” assistant defensive back Richard Rodgers told assistant coach. December. “He stayed steady 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 reviewing it and seeing how expensive it is … think,‘ Wow, how can you allow people who aren’t in the situation or position I’m in? “He said in November.” This has helped me a lot to shape my views, just by saying and thinking for myself, that we need to have some kind of affordable care in the United States for everyone. “

.Source