After months of speculation about an illness he was battling privately, University of Colorado (CU) football coach Deion Sanders announced Monday (July 28) that his bladder was removed after doctors found an aggressive, malignant tumor. The Pro Football Hall-of-Famer and outspoken Christian is now cancer-free, according to his medical team.
At Monday’s press conference in Boulder, Colorado, Sanders—known as Coach Prime—praised God for watching over him. “You have no idea how good God has been to me,” he told reporters. “When we hear that word [cancer], it’s usually a life sentence attached to it, but not this time…because God got me.”
The coach, who’s preparing for his third season at CU, was upbeat, saying he never considered retiring. When asked what it was like to stare death in the face, Sanders replied, “I didn’t stare death in the face; I stared life in the face.”
“I’m God’s guy,” he continued. “I’m allowed to go through these trials and tribulations so that I could touch and reach you and bless people with the words, with the energy, with that thing that God gave me…I never thought about no death.”
Now Cancer-Free, Deion Sanders Is Back to Coaching
Sanders, who has had previous surgeries related to blood clots, said an April CT scan for clots found a mass on his bladder. Dr. Janet Kukreja, a urologic oncologist, said surgery to remove the aggressive tumor was successful. “It’s beaten,” she said of the coach’s cancer.
On Monday, Sanders thanked his medical team, staff, and fans for their support. Although he has lost weight and now must “depend on Depends,” he said he’s “strong” and “ready” for the upcoming season.
The two-sport athlete also said people should “stop being ashamed” of urinary issues. Sanders encouraged men to get checkups, saying he “wouldn’t be sitting here today” without his doctors.
Since April, the coach had been noticeably absent from campus. On Monday, Sanders said he had kept his diagnosis and surgery quiet to avoid distracting players. Finally, on Sunday he filled them in. “I was always gonna coach,” Sanders told reporters. “It was never in my spirit, in my heart, that God wouldn’t allow me to coach again.”
Sanders didn’t inform sons Shedeur Sanders and Shiloh Sanders about his health scare either, he said, because they were going through the NFL Draft process. “I wanted them to focus on making the team and not focus on Dad,” he said.
 football coach Deion Sanders announced Monday (July 28) that his bladder was removed after doctors found an aggressive, malignant tumor.){kind=link}