July 28, 2025
The mysterious illness has been disclosed as he prepares for upcoming football season
Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders had been sidelined during the summer with an undisclosed health issue. During a press conference on July 28, he revealed he had bladder cancer, but now he is cancer-free.
According to Yahoo Sports, the NFL Hall of Famer finally discussed what had been keeping him out of public view, as speculation had been running in several different directions since his son assured people via social media that his father was just going through some things and would be fine. In the press conference, Sanders’ doctor, Dr. Janet Kukreja, at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, told the media that the college football coach had his bladder removed after a malignant tumor was discovered earlier this year. She stated that he has been “cured” of the cancer.
Kukreja expressed that the type of cancer Sanders had came with a high recurrence rate, and he decided to go forward with the “curative” option of having the bladder taken out.
BREAKING: Colorado coach Deion Sanders announced he has been battling bladder cancer this offseason. He had successful surgery to remove his bladder and is now cancer free, according to his physicians. pic.twitter.com/3a4k34lxfP
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 28, 2025
During the press conference, he revealed that even his sons were in the dark about what was going on, and he told them it was issues dealing with his foot, so they wouldn’t be more worried than they had to be with both of them (Shedeur and Shilo) beginning their rookie seasons in the NFL.
“There was some scenes you saw, all the bull junk that’s transpired on draft day,” Sanders said. “It wasn’t just that. It was just, I knew as well, I had a surgery coming up. My sons, to this day, don’t know what transpired. I just told them it was something with my foot, because I wanted to give them the focus on making the team and not focused on dad.”
Sanders was referring to having two of his toes amputated on his left foot in 2021 while he was still coaching at Jackson State University. He stated that he’s gone through 14 surgeries since 2021.
He did mention that Colorado fans may witness a portable toilet on the sidelines during the season, as his new bladder was created with parts of his intestines. He assured fans that he will be back on the sidelines for the upcoming season, the first without his two sons on the team.
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