The world was shocked when NFL legend Deion Sanders revealed he’d overcome a private battle with cancer. And now that he’s back to feeling like his old self, Coach Prime is giving fans and supporters the inside scoop on his gruesome road to recovery.
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During an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday (Sept. 23), Sanders got real about his scary recovery after bladder removal surgery. “It was tough,” he said. “That was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”
We previously told you Sanders announced he beat bladder cancer back in July. The 58-year-old was one of around 65,000 men in the U.S. with this form of cancer. It is the 10th leading cause of cancer death in the country, according to the American Cancer Society.
“I want everybody to understand you can make it, man,” Sanders continued during the interview. “We all got something we fighting. Who out there right now ain’t fighting something? It may not be cancer, but it’s something. But you can overcome it. We can do this.” Despite Sanders’ fighting spirit, he went on to say his journey was not easy.
He admitted to being “irritated” by the continuous tests doctors performed to properly diagnose him “because men, we don’t want to go to the doctor,” Sanders said. “Men never talk about stuff like this. We hide it because we want to be big, strong, and massive, and not vulnerable. No, man. This is real. This is what I’m dealing with.”
After he was diagnosed, Sanders was given two options: either have his bladder removed or go though 36 weeks of chemotherapy. The 58-year-old opted for the surgery, but he couldn’t have imagined the pain he’d experience afterwards.
“It was tough,” Coach Prime said. “So, I remember laying there, and they said, ‘Well, you need to go try to pee.’ That was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt in my life.” Sanders told ESPN he lost 25 pounds during the journey. “This was not an easy task… It was dynamic. It was tough. It wasn’t a cakewalk. It wasn’t easy,” he said in July. “That was a fight, but we made it.”
Despite the pain, Sanders said he has no regrets over his decision against chemo. “The cancer could’ve taken me out, but I’m here,” he said. Sanders is now cancer-free and back to coaching for the University of Colorado’s football team.
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