Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders faced a scary ordeal with bladder cancer in the spring of 2025, but the University of Colorado’s head football coach and his doctor announced on July 28 that he is “cured.”
Coach Prime’s triumphant return to Boulder means that he is resuming in-person coaching duties just in time to lead the University of Colorado Buffaloes for the 2025-2026 football season.
“I’m back, baby. I’m back,” Coach Prime said during a packed press conference at Folsom Field in Boulder on July 28.
Coach Prime credited his faith, a routine scan and his doctor — a UCHealth and University of Colorado School of Medicine robotic surgery expert, Dr. Janet Kukreja — with saving his life.
Kukreja, who sat by Coach Prime’s side during his announcement, is the leader in the U.S. in performing robotic bladder cancer surgeries. She learned how to use robots to assist with challenging surgeries as a young doctor, after having been inspired by one of her grandfathers, who coped with prostate cancer. Kukreja, who is also the director of urologic oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, soon became a global expert in conducting procedures known as “cystectomies.” After removing cancerous bladders, Kukreja creates a new bladder for select patients out of a section of their small intestine.
The recovery and the side effects from the surgery are not easy. But the bladder removal surgery can save patients from the dangerous cancer, which otherwise can recur and is the fourth most common cancer among men in the U.S.
Kukreja said Coach Prime’s prognosis is excellent.
“I am pleased to report that the results from the surgery are that he is cured from the cancer,” Kukreja said.
Coach Prime said he’s been blessed to work with such a wonderful doctor.
“I trusted and believed in you 100%,” Coach Prime said.
“I don’t know if you said this, ‘Doc.’ I think I might have dreamt it, but I think you said that you were as good as I was, even better,” the notoriously confident Coach said to Kukreja as he reached out and warmly touched her shoulder.
“I am very grateful to be part of your care team, and I do not remember saying that,” Kukreja responded with a modest laugh.
But it’s clear that both Kukreja and Coach Prime are peak performers in their respective fields.
As a player, Coach Prime dazzled the football world back in 1989 when he showed up at the NFL combine and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds, among the fastest times ever.
A gifted multi-sport athlete, Coach Prime scored a touchdown in the NFL and a home run in Major League Baseball in the same week. He’s the only athlete in professional sports history to have played in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. He’s a first-ballot inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was a two-time All-American in college.
Coach Prime said his trust in Kukreja’s abilities gave him the confidence to rebound from a devastating diagnosis.
A routine scan led to the discovery of a dangerous, aggressive bladder cancer tumor
The bad news came out of nowhere in the spring.
Coach Prime accompanied by his athletic trainer, Lauren Askevold, went in for a routine annual scan. He has faced a years-long ordeal with blood clots and chronic vascular disease that has forced the amputation of two of his toes.
Initially, the results of the scan seemed fine.
“Everything turned out really great from the vascular side,” Askevold said.
But two weeks later, Coach Prime learned from his primary care doctor that he would need to see a urologist, who ended up recommending that he see Kukreja, since a tumor was discovered in his bladder.
She removed the tumor, and the news was not good.
“It was a very high-grade (tumor), invading through the bladder wall,” Kukreja said.
Fortunately, thanks to early detection, the tumor had not yet moved into the muscular layer, Kukreja said. Still, it was a high-risk type of cancer. Without bladder removal, Kukreja said there would have been at least a 50% chance that the cancer would keep coming back.
“So, we discussed some options of treatment in the bladder, and we discussed bladder removal as well,” said Kukreja, who, along with being a surgeon, is an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.
“Given his commitments to his family and to the team, he elected to undergo a bladder removal. We performed a full robot-assisted laparoscopic bladder removal and creation of a new bladder.”
‘Men — everybody — go get yourselves checked out’
Coach Prime said he chose not to share his medical challenges with his fellow coaches, players and even his children, with the exception of his youngest son, Deion Sanders, Jr., who has been by his side during the surgeries, treatments and recovery and has captured the journey on his digital and social channels.
“My sons, to this day, don’t know what transpired. I just told them it was something with my foot again because I wanted them to focus on making the team and not be focused on dad,” Coach Prime said on July 28.
His sons, Shedeur and Shilo, both played for him at the University of Colorado and now are working out at training camps in the NFL: Shedeur with the Cleveland Browns, and Shilo with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After returning to Boulder, Coach Prime met with team staffers and players a day before sharing the details of his cancer journey with the world.
His key message is that people need to see their doctors for preventive care.
“Men — everybody — get checked out because if it wasn’t for me getting tested for something else, they wouldn’t have stumbled upon this. And make sure you go to get the right care because, without wonderful people like this, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.
“Please get yourself checked out — especially African American men. We don’t like going to the doctors,” Coach Prime said.
But he said he was speaking to everyone.
“I’m talking to my Caucasian brothers, my Hispanic brothers, my Asian brothers…everybody, and my sisters.”
Coach Prime opened up about difficult challenges, like having to use catheters that drained blood and urine from his body, and struggling to walk again after surgery.
“Right now, I’m still dealing with going to the bathroom. It’s a whole life change,” he said. “I’m going to be transparent. I can’t pee like I used to pee.”
He said there might be a Porta-potty on the sidelines at games.
“I’m making a joke out of it, but it’s real. OK? I’m just telling you right now. You’re going to see it,” Coach Prime said.
“There are a lot of people out there who are dealing with what I’m dealing with. And let’s stop being ashamed. Let’s deal with it head-on.”
A tough journey for Deion Sanders: Facing challenges for a reason
One of the toughest aspects of the recovery was not being with his team during the early part of the summer, Coach Prime said.
After the May surgery at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, Coach Prime stayed at his home in Texas, where he worked hard every day to walk and recover.
He missed his fellow coaches and players and said he always knew he’d return to coaching.
“I wanted to see them work, see them train, coach them. And I couldn’t. But slowly, but surely, I built myself back up to where I’m strong. I’m ready.”
Coach Prime said he never felt sorry for himself or asked God, “Why me?” But there were tough times.
“I’m always positive, but I would get upset when my body don’t allow me to do the things that I want to do,” he said.
Coach Prime credits his faith with helping him navigate his ordeal. He thinks he’s facing cancer so others will be inspired to get necessary care.
“We are helping some folks today. There’s some folks right now calling their doctors, scheduling checkups. There’s some wives out there saying, ‘Baby, I told you it’s (something) and you ain’t been to see a doctor in years.’ But they’re going to get a checkup. Because if it could happen to Prime, baby, it could happen to you.”
Like most people, Coach Prime conceded that when he first received his cancer diagnosis, he did a lot of Google searches that produced scary results.
Over time, he learned to put his faith in God and in his doctors and nurses.
“You’ve got to rely on your faith and on these wonderful people,” Coach Prime said, gesturing to Kukreja.
He said she always “shot straight” with him.
“She never falsified anything,” Coach Prime said. “She never said you should do this or do that. She just explained everything to me so I could make the decision I felt like I needed to make for me and my family.”
Bladder cancer can be dangerous and deadly if doctors don’t catch it early
Kukreja said the statistics related to bladder cancer can be ominous.
“The bad side of this cancer is if it does progress into the muscle, the rate of metastasis (or spreading outside of the bladder) is about 50%. Only about 10% of people live for five years, even with our current medical treatments.
“We were very lucky to have found it (the cancer) at this stage, where we could still use the word ‘cure.’ I don’t use that word lightly,” Kukreja said.
Bladder cancer is the tenth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.
The causes of bladder cancer are also unclear.
“About 50% of cases are associated with smoking, but we don’t know what causes the other 50%,” Kukreja said.
Like many patients, Coach Prime was never a smoker.
He also never had any signs or symptoms of bladder cancer.
Some men have blood in the urine. If they do, doctors say it’s important to check with their doctors right away.
Coach Prime only learned he had cancer after the routine scan revealed a tumor.
Bladder cancer is more common in men than women. But anyone can get it. In men, it’s the fourth most common cancer behind prostate, lung and colon cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Among women, bladder cancer is the 11th most common type of cancer. The most common types of cancer in women are breast, lung, colon, uterine, melanoma, lymphoma, pancreatic, thyroid, kidney and leukemia, followed by bladder cancer.
Coach Prime urged everyone — even those who are sick or facing tough battles like he has — to try to stay positive.
“I’m a messenger,” he said. “And I’m on assignment…I’m not here by mistake. God planted me here in Boulder, Colorado. Who would have ever thought you’d come from Jackson State to Boulder, Colorado? That don’t make sense. But I’m here, and I’m thankful.
“I’m happy and elated about everything, especially this opportunity I have to coach these young men and lead some of these women who are part of our organization.
“I’m so thankful to be back in Boulder. You have no idea,” he said.
As for his cancer, Coach Prime vowed to “beat it,” at which point, Kukreja gave a one-word assessment on where things stand now: “Beaten.”