The Washington Football Team surprised their head coach Ron Rivera with “Coach’s Corner” full of cutouts of friends, family and former players showing their support for #RiveraStrong.
Rivera was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma located in a lymph node in August. While he classified the form of skin cancer as “very treatable and curable” that has not been without challenges.
This week leading into Sunday’s game has been difficult in particular. Rivera missed Wednesday’s practice due to chemotherapy treatment. He returned to Thursday’s practice but left early after he wasn’t feeling well.
Rivera plans to receive an IV either before, during or after today’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. He received an IV at halftime in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Sunday, he got an emotional boost, as over 400 people paid $49 (former Washington star Bobby Michell’s jersey number) to get their cutouts displayed in the dedicated section at FedEx Field. A combination of the cutouts and donations helped raise around $30,000 in Rivera’s name to the American Cancer Society.
The list of cutouts included NFL coaches Andy Reid and Sean McDermott along with players Rivera coached through his time in the league such as Steve Smith and Greg Olsen.
In addition, Washington Football Team players wore “Rivera Strong” shirts during warm-ups.
