Deion Sanders returns to Colorado following removal of tumor, bladder

Yahoo

2 days ago

Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz reacts following the Colorado head coach's reveal that his doctors recently discovered a cancerous tumor that led to the removal of his bladder — and the inspiring message he shared with fans following the news.
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Video Transcript
Coach Prime isn't going anywhere this season with Colorado.
He used his platform more powerfully than ever to send that message.
Social media rumors were bouncing around everywhere, saying that due to health concerns, Deion Sanders might be stepping away from coaching altogether.
He might miss time.
Nobody was certain what was going to happen.
And instead of letting that speculation continue to run, Coach Prime sat in front of a microphone at an incredibly powerful and moving press conference.
He let us all know exactly what's going on.
With his doctor sitting next to him, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer, in fact, resulting in his bladder being removed.
He was so transparent that he talked about the issues he now has with bladder control, joking about needing a porta potty on the sideline.
But also being incredibly transparent about what it means for his day in and day out life.
Talking about the fact that he depends on depends, Coach Prime used his platform to encourage everyone to go get checked out as he continued, as always, to lean on scripture and messages from God.
He also continued to lean on everybody saying, hey, if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.
It was an incredibly raw, real moment from someone that is bigger than life in so many ways.
In fact, he revealed that his kids didn't even know what he was going through while they were preparing for the NFL draft because he wanted his sons to instead be able to focus just on football.
The ability for Colorado to keep all of this under wraps, his team not even aware of it until he told them in the last 24 hours.
His coaching staff not being aware as he fought through all of this and found a way to get himself as healthy as possible was powerful.
But most powerful to me is that somebody that is at times become so impactful, whether it's on the field or off the field, has at times become frankly polarizing for people on the field and off the field, he took all of that and he washed it all away as he sat in front of a microphone and spoke emotionally, spoke with reality, spoke honestly about what his life looks like right now, how different it is, how challenging it can be and how grateful he is that he has his health.
He did not back away from the word cancer, and I think the power and what he just did in front of the microphone will far outweigh any of the greatness he's ever accomplished, and any of the meaning that he has had on or off the football field.
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