After getting an IV treatment at halftime of last weekends regular-season opener, Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera prepares to do the very same for Sundays game versus the Arizona Cardinals if he requires it.
“If Im feeling it, I will tell our head fitness instructor [Ryan Vermillion] that I need it,” Rivera said Friday before his group left for Arizona.
Rivera, 58, was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma located in a lymph node this previous summer season. The cancer is in the early phases and is thought about “very treatable and curable,” however Rivera still is discovering how to handle it.
For example, Rivera now usually goes to sleep at 9 p.m., about 2 hours previously than he usually has actually throughout his embellished coaching career. He gets treatments that in some cases throw off the timing of his days.
This past Friday, he had a treatment in the morning that lasted an hour– a great 40 minutes longer than it was expected to– and it had Rivera playing catch-up later on in the day.
Last week, he could feel that he would require the IV at halftime. It was 80 degrees last Sunday for Washingtons success over the Philadelphia Eagles, and Rivera didnt feel right late in the 2nd quarter, so he alerted the group that he would not be offered at halftime.
Second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins talked to the team at halftime, and Washington rallied in the second half to beat Philadelphia 27-17.
It was Riveras first game coaching Washington after nine years with the Carolina Panthers. He has actually needed to deal with not just a pandemic and social justice concerns but likewise the franchises name change, accusations of unwanted sexual advances in the organization from previous years and his own cancer medical diagnosis.
Rivera requires to have 5 treatments a week for 7 weeks. The organization knew what he went through, which is why Rivera received a video game ball after last Sundays success.
ESPNs John Keim contributed to this report.
