BOULDER, Colo. — University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders announced Monday that he underwent surgery to remove his bladder after doctors discovered a tumor there. Sanders said that since the surgery there have been no traces of cancer, and that he will continue to coach this season.
In a packed Touchdown Club at the Dal Ward Athletic Center, Sanders was both serious in tone as well as celebratory and full of humor about what he had been through as he appeared with Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Kukreja declared Sanders “cured of cancer,” adding that she doesn’t “use that word lightly.”
“This was not an easy task. … It was dynamic. It was tough. It wasn’t a cakewalk. It wasn’t easy,” said Sanders, who added that he lost about 25 pounds. “That was a fight, but we made it.”
Sanders, Kukreja and Colorado team trainer Lauren Askevold spent just over 40 minutes answering questions that have swirled around Sanders in the offseason.
Askevold said the bladder tumor was discovered during one of the regular routine vascular exams Sanders has because of his history of blood clots in his legs.
“He never folded one time and never wavered,” Askevold said. “You couldn’t ask for a better patient because he wants to get up and get going right. So it’s been awesome. It’s been a hectic journey, but there’s a blessing very in disguise with all this.”
Sanders, 57, said he did not even reveal the seriousness of his illness to most of his family and closest friends, including sons Shedeur and Shilo as well as Travis Hunter as the three prepared for the NFL draft.
“They didn’t know what the extent of it was,” Sanders said, “… so they could be focused on making the team and not focused on dad.”
Sanders said he even went as far as to change his cellphone number “a couple of times” to keep from talking to too many people.
Sanders has largely been out of the public eye in recent months, save for an appearance at Big 12 media days earlier this month when he acknowledged conference commissioner Brett Yormark for repeatedly checking in on him and praised Colorado athletic director Rick George.
Sanders deflected questions about his health at Big 12 media days and previously had not publicly offered any specifics.
On Monday, however, Sanders expounded on his faith, his recovery, his desire to continue coaching, the challenges of having his bladder removed, and the radical change in lifestyle following the surgery. He alternated between humor and the somber realization that he is a cancer survivor.
“I can’t pee like I used to,” Sanders said with a laugh. “… I depend on Depends. … I’m making a joke out of it, but it is real. It is real. It is real. If you see a port-a-potty on the sideline, it is real, I’m just telling you. You’re going to see one at practice, on the sideline [in games].”
He said that he hopes his public disclosure will spur people to get examined for all types of cancer and that his humor about bladder cancer will help those who go through the same surgery and recovery avoid being embarrassed.
At one point, Sanders joked with Kukreja that she had told him, “As good as you were [as a player], I’m better” to help motivate him during his recovery.
Kukreja said some of Sanders’ small intestine was used to create a new bladder. She added that Sanders should continue to be active in his recovery and is medically ready to coach.
“It is a learning curve, for sure,” Kukreja said of postsurgical life for bladder cancer patients.
Sanders met with his players and coaches Sunday to recount his diagnosis, surgery and recovery. He said he did not tell any of the players the specifics of his diagnosis or what followed until Sunday’s meeting with the team.
In July, his son Deion Jr. posted a video on social media in which Deion Sanders is heard saying that he was dealing with a health issue and that “I ain’t all the way recovered.”
In the video, he is seen stepping into an ice bath as well as shooting a basketball and taking a walk with one of his daughters. Sanders said in May that he had lost about 14 pounds as he had limited contact around the program during the team’s spring and summer workouts.
Sanders has previously dealt with serious health issues. He has had bouts with blood clots in his legs, had two toes amputated in 2022 and underwent emergency surgery 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 issues and emphasized that he had shown to no signs of cancer before his was discovered during an exam to check his legs.
“Get checked out, get checked out,” Sanders said. “It could have been a whole other kind of gathering if I didn’t. … Everyone knows someone who is affected or infected by the ‘C’ word.”
On the field, Sanders is set to begin his third season with the Buffaloes. In 2024, with Shedeur at quarterback and Hunter — college football’s most accomplished two-way player in the modern era — putting together a Heisman Trophy-winning season, the Buffaloes finished 9-4 and appeared in the Alamo Bowl. Sanders’ son Shilo, a safety for the Buffaloes the past two seasons, has also moved on to the NFL, along with several high-profile players on offense.
The top storyline on the field for the team is the competition to replace Shedeur behind center. In two seasons, he completed 71.8% of his passes for 7,364 yards with 64 touchdowns.
This will be the first season Deion Sanders doesn’t coach a high school or college team with Shedeur at quarterback.
Seventeen-year-old true freshman Julian Lewis, a five-star recruit and the No. 2 player in the 2025 ESPN 300, and Kaidon Salter, who started 24 games in four seasons at Liberty, will compete for the job.
Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.
