Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano has completed his final round of chemotherapy for leukemia and could be back on the sideline by for the team’s Dec. 30 game, his doctor said Tuesday night.
“I’m fully supportive and I have my fingers crossed that he’ll be there on the sideline if that’s where he wants to be,” Dr. Larry Cripe of IU Health Simon Cancer Center told the Indianapolis Star. “Things are going well,” he said. “He’s received all of the chemotherapy he was to receive. Now it’s just a matter of over the next couple of weeks recovering back to health. He can start conditioning and moving towards what he wants to do, which is return to coaching.”
The Colts play host to the division rival Houston Texans in that season-ending game that could decide the AFC South or a playoffs spot. Cripe said the Colts and Pagano will decide together if he coaches.
Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia Sept. 26 and has gone through three rounds of chemotherapy. On Nov. 5, the team announced he was in remission.