Henderson Silver Knights head coach to take leave for cancer treatment
Henderson Silver Knights head coach Manny Viveiros released a statement Thursday revealing he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October.
''Unfortunately, I've been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had to take a leave of absence at the first part of the season. We've been trying at the very early stages a game plan of what we want to do going forward.
Now that we have one in place through the doctors, we have an opportunity now to go after this and treat this. I've been able to get back to work, which is, for me, a really important part of my life.
I'm going to be able to do that until about mid-December, and then I'm going to have to take another leave of absence for a short time to have the surgery done.
It started with a simple blood test. The staff and players at @GoldenKnights Training Camp went through physicals and everybody got a blood test. My PSA levels came back really high, and we did a follow up of another blood test and they came back very high again.
Right away the VGK medical staff set me up with a urologist here in Las Vegas. I went in and saw him and obviously he was very concerned right away. He checked me out and we ended up doing a biopsy and unfortunately it came back that I do have prostate cancer.
For almost a month we've been trying to form a game plan for how we're going forward.You have to find out if it's spread or not and if it has gone into your bones. There has been really good news in that regard that it hasn't. That has a real positive impact toward my recovery.
Quite frankly, it probably saved my life. Just having a simple blood test. I'm at the age where I'm over 50 and in perfect health. You just never know. I figured if I feel good, there's probably nothing wrong.
Getting a simple blood test can make the difference in catching something very early or saving a person's life. I can't help but encourage people, especially if there's a history in their family, to go get a simple blood test. That can make a world of difference in the future.
We've got some very positive news where the doctors are quite confident that we have a good chance of curing this and in fact beating it.
Today was my first day back with the guys [at practice] again. It's good to surround yourself with people you really want to be with. Like I said, they are an extension of my family. It's really important to be around these guys. I can't wait to get back behind the bench."
The team provided the following statement:
''Henderson Silver Knights Head Coach Manny Viveiros will be taking a non-COVID medical leave of absence from the team.
Assistant Coach Jamie Heward will assume the lead role in the interim alongside Joel Ward, Fred Brathwaite and Andrew Doty.
We will provide additional updates when appropriate.''
Credit: 'Fox5vegas
