(Reuters) – Washington Football Team’s first-year head coach Ron Rivera has been diagnosed with a form of skin cancer but plans to continue coaching, ESPN reported on Thursday.
Rivera was informed of the diagnosis two weeks ago and told his team on Thursday.
“I was stunned. But I was angry because I feel like I’m in the best health I’ve been in,” Rivera, 58, told ESPN.
“I’m planning to go on coaching. Doctors encouraged me to do it, too. They said, ‘If you feel strongly, do it. Don’t slow down, do your physical activities.’ But everyone keeps telling me by week three or four, you’ll start feeling it.”
Rivera was appointed Washington head coach in January following a nine-year stint with the Carolina Panthers.
His diagnosis comes during a tumultuous off-season for Washington, which last month said it would retire its Redskins name and logo which had been used since 1933 but had long been criticized as racist by Native American rights groups.
Washington expressed their support for Rivera on Twitter, saying: “We love you, RiverboatRon. We’re all with you.”
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
