Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team without cancer

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Washington football team coach Ron Rivera was declared cancer-free on Thursday.

Rivera, who announced on August 20 that he has squamous cell cancer, wrote on Twitter on Thursday thanks 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.

The post came on social media after both his wife, Stephanie, and his daughter, Courtney, went on social media earlier Thursday to announce that Rivera had beaten the cancer.

“Prayers have been answered. Thx to all the doctors and nurses who” trained “@RiverboatRonHC and me and gave us the winning game plan to beat cancer. The PET scan said it all, cancer you lost this fight! #RiveraStrong “Stephanie Rivera wrote on Twitter.

Added Courtney, who works as a producer for social media in Washington: “I just got off the phone with my mother and father leaving the hospital @ RiverboatRonHC is officially cancer-free !!!”

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

He ended his treatment on October 26. That day, a video captured the moment he walked down the hall of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute flanked by cheering medical staff – all wearing black “Rivera Strong” T-shirts – culminating in ringing a bell to signify the end.

Although his prognosis was good from the beginning, the treatments had a negative effect. He had to use a golf cart during training and his energy level dropped. But he missed only three training sessions and never missed a game, although he admitted that, a week earlier in the season, he was close to stopping. But he pushed.

He had to adjust to his daily routine. He would fall asleep all day – after video conferencing sessions with reporters, for example. His wife or daughter drove him home late in the afternoon or early evening, while fatigue overwhelmed him.

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

Rivera, 59, lost 36 pounds and weighed 232 at one point – six pounds under his 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. Most of our patients towards the end of their treatment are very close to needing hospitalization because there are so many complications.

Rivera and Washington were rewarded for winning the NFC East. Washington has won five of its last seven games to finish 7-9 before losing to Tampa Bay in the wild card round of the playoffs. Players have said throughout the season that Rivera’s fight against cancer has helped inspire them. The coaches said it made a difference.

“This team, following him, understood when he said that we will have opportunities and that we will win and change the culture; they saw it directly, because they saw what it will go through,” said assistant defensive coach Richard Rodgers. in December. “He remained consistent in what he wanted to do.”

Rivera said he would like to become an affordable health care lawyer. His brother Mickey died of pancreatic cancer in 2015.

“After going through it and seeing how expensive it is … you think,“ Lord, how can people afford this that is not in the situation or position I am in? “He said in November. “That really helped me shape my point of view, telling me and thinking, we need to have some kind of affordable care in the United States for everyone.”

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