Deion Sanders bladder cancer, explained: What to know about removal, symptoms for Colorado head coach

Deion Sanders has been away from Colorado this offseason, dealing with an undisclosed health issue. He revealed on Monday during a press conference that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. 

Sanders said that the doctors found a cancerous tumor in his bladder. He has since had his bladder removed and is now cancer-free. When the press conference was announced, many thought that his health issues may have prevented him from coaching in the upcoming college football season, but he assured those in attendance that he would be coaching the Buffaloes. 

📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp

Here is more on bladder cancer and what Coach Prime overcame. 

MORE: A complete timeline of Deion Sanders' health issues

What kind of cancer did Deion Sanders have?

Sanders had been away from Colorado and at his home in Texas for the majority of the offseason. He released a statement saying that he was dealing with a health issue and that he would share more when it was time for him to share more. 

Sanders revealed in a press conference that he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He has since had his bladder removed and his medical team has said that he is cancer-free. Sanders added that he lost 25 pounds from having cancer. 

More about Deion Sanders and his medical team announcing that he had a bladder tumor that has been removed and that he is now “cured from the cancer.”
pic.twitter.com/bCZDh1wrNc

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 28, 2025

Sanders' family often documents their life. Whether it is a pre-game preparation or moments from practice, there is usually content of Sanders. After his dad's announcement, Well Off Media, run by Deion's son, posted a video leading up to and after Deion's bladder removal. 

Deion Sanders age

Sanders is 57 years old and will turn 58 on August 9, 2025. 

What is bladder cancer?

The Mayo Clinic says that bladder cancer is a common type of cancer that "begins in the cells that line the inside of your bladder. Most bladder cancers are diagnosed at an early stage, when the cancer is highly treatable." There are three types of bladder cancer: Urothelial carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The differences come from where in the bladder the cancer specifically occurs. The most common is urothelial carcinoma, while adenocarcinoma is quite rare. 

The Mayo Clinic advises you to see a doctor if you have discolored urine as it is an early warning sign of bladder cancer. 

MORE: Colorado head coach reveals he made a will amid health concerns

Bladder cancer symptoms

Bladder cancer signs and symptoms include the following, per the Mayo Clinic. 

• Blood in urine, which could cause the urine to appear bright red
• Frequent urination
• Painful urination
• Back pain

Bladder cancer removal

The most common treatment for bladder cancer is surgery, like Sanders had. It depends on the stage of the cancer, but removing the bladder is not only effective for treating the cancer short-term, but also brings the best chances of it not returning at a later time. 

The American Cancer Society also says that patients can undergo intravesical therapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy drugs for bladder cancer, but maintains that surgery is the best option. 

Bladder cancer survival rate

Five-year relative survival rate is a way to check how people with a certain diagnosis will fare in the future to someone without it. The numbers for bladder cancer survivor rate come from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. The SEER database doesn't group cancers by stages, but instead by how far it has spread. 

For bladder cancer it is broken down into "in situ alone" which means that it is only found in the one area it was originally discovered, localized which means it has spread, but not out of the area it was found, regional which means it has spread but has stayed close to the original site and distant which means it has spread to a far part of the body. 

The five-year relative survivor rate for bladder control from 2014-2020 is as follows from the SEER Database and American Cancer Society.

SEER Stage	5-year Survival Rate
in situ alone	97%
Localized	72%
Regional	40%
Distant	9%
All SEER stages combined	78%

Sanders' cancer, as far as we have been told, was in situ alone, giving him a 97% five-year relative survivor rate.