BOULDER, Colorado – Football coach of the University of Colorado, Deion Sanders, announced on Monday that he had undergone surgery to remove his bladder after the doctors discovered a tumor there. Sanders said that since surgery, there have been no traces of cancer and that he will continue to train this season.
In a touchdown club packaged at Dal Ward Athletic Center, Sanders was both serious as well as for the party and full of humor on what he had experienced as he appeared with Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Kukreja said Sanders “healed from cancer”, “adding that she does not use this word lightly.”
“It was not an easy task. … It was dynamic. It was difficult. It was not a cake. It was not easy,” said Sanders, who added that he had lost about 25 pounds. “It was a fight, but we did it.”
Sanders, Kukreja and the coach of the Colorado team, Lauren Askevold, spent a little over 40 minutes answer questions that revolved around Sanders during the offseason.
Askevold said the bladder tumor was discovered during one of the regular routine routine exams that Sanders has because of his story of blood clots in his legs.
“He never folded once and never hesitated,” said Askevold. “You couldn’t ask for a better patient because he wants to get up and do well. So it was great. It was a hectic journey, but there is a very disguised blessing with all this.”
Sanders, 57, said that he had not even revealed the seriousness of his illness to most of his family and his closest friends, including Sons SheDer and Shilo as well as Travis Hunter as three were prepared for the draft of the NFL.
“They did not know what was the magnitude of that,” said Sanders, “… so that they can focus on the manufacture of the team and not focus on dad. ”
Sanders said he even went so far as to change his mobile phone number “a few times” to avoid talking to too many people.
Sanders has been largely out of the public’s eyes in recent months, with the exception of an appearance in the Big 12 media earlier this month, when he recognized the Commissioner of the Brett Yormmark conference for having repeatedly checked the Sports Director of Colorado, Rick George.
Sanders diverted questions about his health during the Big 12 Media Days and had previously offered no details publicly.
On Monday, however, Sanders explained his faith, his recovery, his desire to continue to train, the challenges of withdrawing his bladder and the radical change in lifestyle after surgery. He alternated between humor and dark achievement that he is a survivor of cancer.
“I can’t pee like I did,” said Sanders, laughing. “… I depend on depends. … I make a joke, but it’s real. It’s real. It’s real. If you see a Port-a-Potty on the key, it’s real, I tell you. You will see one in practice, on the sidelines [in games]. ”
He said that he hoped that his public disclosure will encourage people to be examined for all types of cancer and that his humor on bladder cancer will help those who undergo the same surgery and the same recovery avoid being embarrassed.
At one point, Sanders joked with Kukreja that she had said to him: “As well as you were [as a player]I am better “to help motivate him during his recovery.
Kukreja said some of the Sanders’ small intestine had been used to create a new bladder. She added that Sanders should continue to be active in her recovery and is medically ready to train.
“It is a learning curve, that’s for sure,” Kukreja said about post-surgical life for patients with bladder cancer.
Sanders met his players and coaches on Sunday to tell his diagnosis, surgery and recovery. He said he hadn’t told any of the details of his diagnosis or what followed until the team’s meeting with the team.
In July, his son Deion Jr. published a video on social networks in which Deion Sanders is heard that he was dealing with a health problem and that “I am not restored”.
In the video, he is seen entering an ice bath and pulling a basketball and walking with one of his daughters. Sanders said in May that he had lost around 14 pounds because he had limited the contacts around the program during the team and summer training sessions.
Sanders has already dealt with serious health problems. He had battles with blood clots in his legs, had two toes amputated in 2022 and underwent an emergency surgical intervention in June 2023 to treat the persistent clots, including one in his thigh in one leg and several just below his knee in his other leg.
Sanders implored people to see their doctors regularly to be examined for cancer or other problems and stressed that he had not shown any cancer sign before his exam to check his legs.
“Be checked, be checked,” said Sanders. “It could have been a completely different type of gathering if I did not do it. … Everyone knows someone who is affected or infected with the word” C “.
On the field, Sanders is expected to start his third season with the Buffaloes. In 2024, with Sheder in the quarter -Arrière and Hunter – the most accomplished bidirectional player of university football in the modern era – assembling a winning season of the Heisman trophy, the Buffaloes finished 9-4 and appeared in the Alamo Bowl. Sanders’ son Shilo, security for buffaloes in the past two seasons, has also been at the NFL, with several high -level players in attack.
The best scenario on the team’s field is the competition to replace Shedeur behind the center. In two seasons, he completed 71.8% of his passes for 7,364 yards with 64 affected.
It will be the first season Queon Sanders will not accept a high school or college team with Sheder in the quarter.
The real seven -year recruit, Julian Lewis, a five -star recruit and player No. 2 of 2025 ESPN 300, and Kaidon Salter, who started 24 games in four seasons in Liberty, will compete for work.
The information from the Associated Press was included in this report.
