ESPN | Colorado coach Deion Sanders proclaims himself 'cancer-free'
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders said he feels like his old -- and younger -- self again a year after undergoing surgery to remove his cancerous bladder. "I consider myself cancer-free," thanks to robotic surgery that also reconstructed the bladder using part of an intestine, Sanders told The Associated Press after getting a tutorial in the surgical system that was used in his operation... At a routine checkup last spring, a CT scan showed a mass on Sanders' bladder. He was referred to the University of Colorado Anschutz, where he met Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urologic oncology at the CU Cancer Center and UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. Sanders, who turns 59 later this summer, was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. Although the tumor hadn't reached the muscle layer in his bladder, it was considered "very high risk" with a 50-50 chance of recurring or progressing after treatments. Kukreja is among the small group of surgeons in the U.S. who perform robotic removal of the entire cancerous bladder -- called a radical cystectomy -- and robotic reconstruction of the organ, which involves having a section of intestine function as a bladder.