Washington Football Team Coach Ron Rivera Is Officially Cancer-Free

Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera is officially cancer-free after battling squamous cell cancer throughout the season, his daughter said Thursday.

After months of battling cancer and coaching full-time, Ron Rivera and his family received news they had been praying for. 

The Washington Football Team head coach is officially cancer-free, his daughter Courtney tweeted on Thursday. She received the call from her parents as they left the hospital, where a PET scan confirmed the good news.  

Prayers have been answered. Thx to all the Drs & nurses who “Coached up” @RiverboatRonHC and me and gave us the winning game plan to defeat cancer. The PET scan said it all, cancer you lost this fight! #RiveraStrong

— Stephanie Rivera (@CoachRiv2) January 28, 2021

Rivera had been undergoing treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, a skin cancer on his neck. He completed seven weeks of treatments in late October, one day after his team beat the Dallas Cowboys. 

"'Inspirational' is casually thrown around but this is the real thing," Washington team president Jason Wright tweeted. "The complexities of culture change on a young team, a (weird) NFC East race, a pandemic, while fighting w/ your family, emotionally & physically, on a journey to health... We bear witness to something special."

Washington coach Ron Rivera rings the bell after finishing his last round of chemotherapy 🙏

(via @WashingtonNFL) pic.twitter.com/TMpNAwI7N9

— The MMQB (@theMMQB) October 26, 2020

Earlier on Thursday, Rivera was named NFC Coach of the Year by NFL 101 Awards. 

The head coach was open about the difficulties he faced during treatment this season, but he was able to persevere and lead the Washington Football Team to the NFC East title. 

"The fatigue, how tired you get, at times you get nauseous," Rivera said of how his chemotherapy treatments impacted him, per ESPN's John Keim in October. "At times your equilibrium is messed around with, almost a sense of vertigo. And then the nausea. It hits you at any time, anywhere. But the fatigue, going out to practice it limited me and that bothers me because I can't coach the way I coach."

Rivera should be back to full strength next season, when his team will try to defend its division crown and claim Washington's first playoff win since 2005.