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Deion Sanders said he wouldn’t allow many visitors during his recovery from surgery to remove his bladder after doctors found a cancerous tumor.
During an interview with his former Dallas Cowboys teammate Michael Irvin, the Colorado football coach explained that he didn’t want anyone to see him amid his dramatic weight loss due to his health issues.
“I think you were the first one [to visit] because I didn’t want to be seen… you know, I’m only 12 pounds down now. But I was 20-25 pounds down,” Sanders, 57, said. “I didn’t want to be seen like that even though it was you I just didn’t want that. I wasn’t allowing anybody except for my kids.
“My sons didn’t even know. Shedeur and Shilo really still don’t know what’s going on or what happened because I want them to focus on making those teams.”
Shedeur, a fifth-round pick of the Browns in the 2025 NFL Draft, it at training camp with Cleveland, while Shilo, an undrafted rookie safety, is playing for a roster spot with the Buccaneers. Both played under their father in Colorado after transferring from Jackson State.
Sanders recalled some low moments after the surgery while recovering at his ranch in Texas.
“There were some days out there in the country where I didn’t leave my bedroom for a week at a time — couldn’t eat, didn’t have no appetite, the weight is falling off you,” Sanders said. “You look in the mirror and you’re like, ‘Who is that?’
“And that was hard. That’s why I didn’t want to see nobody and then you call and you’re like,’ I’m coming.'”
Irvin said he “could barely understand” Sanders while communicating with him during the visit.
“You came at a rough time,” Sanders said. “I didn’t have my voice, I was coughing a lot and it was bad. But you don’t understand what you gave me, you know you’re full of life all the time. You gave me that life and I was ready to go fight.”
Sanders, who says he is now cancer free, explained that he had options, to undergo chemotherapy over a multitude of weeks, or have his bladder removed.
“It was extremely aggressive,” Sanders said, before recalling being distracted at the draft April 25, because he knew his bladder removal surgery was approaching in May.
Sanders was diagnosed with bladder cancer on April 14 and he underwent surgery to remove his bladder on May 9.
“The most difficult time was… I had to make sure my estate was straight. You never know [what could happen],” Sanders said. “I don’t want my kids and my family to be in a situation where I didn’t take care of business.”
Sanders explained that his doctors found the bladder cancer during a routine checkup on his blood clots in his foot and leg.
In 2021, the Hall of Famer had his left big toe and second toe amputated due to blood clots.
Sanders said he had no symptoms and was “healthy as an ox” before getting diagnosed.
During a press conference on Monday, Sanders, who took time away from the team in the spring for an unspecified health issue, answered questions while sitting beside Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center.
“I cannot control my bladder,” Sanders said. “So I get up to go to the bathroom already 4-5 times a night. And I’m sitting there waking up like my grandson. We in the same thing. We got the same problem right now. We’re going through the same trials and tribulations.”
Actress Karrueche Tran was by Sanders’ side in the hospital and held his hand on the way to the operating room, as seen in a video posted on his son Deion Jr.’s YouTube.
Sanders, who coached Colorado to a 9-4 record in his second season with the team, agreed to a five-year, $54 million contract extension in March.
The Buffaloes open the 2025 season against Georgia Tech on Aug. 29 in Boulder.
English (US)