WFT coach Ron Rivera cancer-free, family announces

Tom Gatto

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WFT coach Ron Rivera cancer-free, family announces image

Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera is free of cancer, his wife, Stephanie, and daughter Courtney tweeted Thursday.

"The PET scan said it all, cancer you lost this fight," Stephanie Rivera wrote. 

"Thank you for all the love and prayers," Courtney Rivera wrote.

Rivera later declared victory over cancer and thanked those who supported him in his fight against it.

The news comes after Ron Rivera completed treatments for squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, last October. The coach announced his diagnosis last August, telling ESPN's Adam Schefter that the cancer, which was discovered in his lymph nodes, was considered "highly treatable and curable."

MORE: Rivera gave amazing speech after WFT upset Steelers

Ron Rivera was able to coach the entire 2020 NFL season, although he said in the early weeks that he felt extreme fatigue as a result of the treatments. He led Washington to the NFC East championship in his first season with the team despite a 7-9 record. Washington lost to eventual NFC champion Tampa Bay in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.