BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders disclosed Monday that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer but after surgery his oncologist has considered him cured, so he plans to coach this season.<\/p>\n
Dr. Janet Kukreja, the director of urologic oncology at the CU Cancer Center\/UCHealth University of Colorado hospital, said Sanders had his bladder removed as part of the surgical plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was dynamic. It was tough. It wasn\u2019t a cakewalk. It wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d said Sanders, who arrived to his news conference wearing a cowboy hat and overalls along with sunglasses, which he took off after getting choked up. \u201cThat was a fight, but we made it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders, who turns 58 next month, spoke on the eve of fall camp as he enters his third season overseeing the Buffaloes. He brought his medical team with him to discuss his diagnosis. A section of his intestine was reconstructed to function as a bladder. He won’t need any radiation or chemotherapy, Kukreja said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018C\u2019 word, when we hear that word there\u2019s normally a life sentence attached to it,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cBut not this time. But not this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders said he lost about 25 pounds, leading him to joke, \u201cI was like Atlanta Falcons Prime at one point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just Sanders being Sanders \u2014 he remained upbeat throughout the entire process, his medical team said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never folded one time and never wavered,\u201d team trainer Lauren Askevold said. “You couldn\u2019t ask for a better patient because he wants to get up and get going right. So it\u2019s been awesome. It\u2019s been a hectic journey, but there\u2019s a blessing very in disguise with all this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Never once did Sanders waver in his belief that he would return to the sideline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always knew I was going to coach again. It was never in my spirit, in my heart, that God wouldn\u2019t allow me to coach again,\u201d he said. \u201cI just didn\u2019t want to be running down to the hospital once a week when I have all of this on my plate. I don\u2019t want that. I was like, \u2018OK, can they bring one of those machines and put them in the office?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Athletic director Rick George echoed Sanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s so positive, and he said he\u2019d be back,\u201d George said. \u201cI had every confidence that he would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he dealt with the cancer diagnosis, Sanders said he had plenty of friends and family members check in on him. Among those who reached out was Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss, who took a leave of absence from ESPN<\/a> in early December after having surgery for cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cRandy Moss called me every other day to make sure I was straight,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cRandy Moss prayed for me \u2014 he and his wife. Told me what I needed to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders stressed over and over the importance of early detection. His cancer was discovered when he went for an annual CT scan as a precaution given his history with blood clots.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re lucky to have found it at this stage where I could say the word cure,\u201d Kukreja said, \u201cbecause I don\u2019t use that word lightly as a cancer doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n The charismatic coach returned to campus last week and announced on social media, \u201cBack and Feeling Great!\u201d He has missed football camps in Boulder this summer amid reports that he\u2019s been ill.<\/p>\n On Sunday, the production crew of \u201cWell Off Media,\u201d which chronicles Sanders and the Buffaloes, posted a video on YouTube<\/a> of the coach\u2019s first meeting with the team. In the middle of the clip, there was a scene, dated May 9, where Sanders said: \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m ready mentally, emotionally. Last night was tough, yesterday was tough, because I had to make a will. That\u2019s not easy at all, to think that you may not be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders used humor Monday to talk about drafting a will, saying it was a chance to rank his kids. Jokes aside, he added: “You don\u2019t want to be a fool and leave and not have your business affairs in order.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders has dealt with other health issues. Many of them have involved his left foot since having two toes amputated in 2021 because of blood clot issues while he was coaching at Jackson State. He missed media day in 2023, his inaugural year at Colorado, after a procedure to remove a blood clot from his right leg and another to straighten toes on his left foot.<\/p>\n In March, Sanders signed a contract<\/a> extension through the 2029 season.<\/p>\n The Buffaloes kick off the season on Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech at Folsom Field. It will be the first season in quite some time that he hasn\u2019t coached one of his sons. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders was drafted by the Cleveland Browns while Shilo, a safety, is in camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes went 4-8 in his first season and 9-4 last season, with an appearance in the Alamo Bowl. They have big shoes to fill in replacing Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP college football: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-football-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-football<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders disclosed Monday that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":100281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[65386,347,235,12756,1369,51,210,50,65385,62,47641,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-100280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-65386","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-cancer","11":"tag-chemotherapy","12":"tag-college-sports","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-radiation-therapy","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-surgery","19":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114932809986522952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}