Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he has beaten bladder cancer - ESPN

BOULDER, Colo. — University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders announced Monday that he had undergone surgery to remove his bladder after doctors discovered a tumor there. Sanders said, since the surgery, there are no traces of cancer, and he will continue to coach this season.

In a packed Touchdown Club in the Dal Ward Athletic Center, Sanders appeared with Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, and answered some of the questions that have swirled around him throughout the offseason.

«It was dynamic. It was tough. It wasn't a cakewalk. It wasn't easy,» said Sanders, who added he lost about 25 pounds. «That was a fight, but we made it.»

«He never folded one time and never wavered,» Colorado team trainer Lauren Askevold said. «You couldn't ask for a better patient because he wants to get up and get going right. So it's been awesome. It's been a hectic journey, but there's a blessing very in disguise with all this.»

The 57-year-old Sanders has largely been out of the public eye in recent months, save for an appearance at Big 12 media days earlier this month when he acknowledged Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark for repeatedly checking in on him and praised Colorado athletic director Rick George.

Sanders deflected questions about his health at Big 12 media days and previously had not publicly offered any specifics. In July, his son, Deion Jr., posted a video on social media in which Deion Sanders is heard saying he was dealing with a health issue and that «I ain't all the way recovered.»

In the video, he was seen stepping into an ice bath as well as shooting a basketball and taking a walk with his daughter. Sanders said in May, he had lost about 14 pounds as he had