Deion Sanders Forced to Miss Travis Hunter’s Biggest Life Moment Due to Severe Bleeding

Coach Prime once joked back in 2022 that Travis Hunter might have already gotten married and not told anybody. Fast forward to 2025, that wedding really happened, and Deion wasn’t there. Not because he didn’t know or wasn’t invited, but because he was recovering from a then-private battle with bladder cancer.

Sanders was diagnosed with bladder cancer in spring 2025 and had opted for a cystectomy (bladder removal) and neobladder reconstruction using a section of his small intestine. During recovery, he had two catheters draining urine, often mixed with blood, because the new bladder lacked nerve signaling, leading to visibly blood-tinged outputs filling medical bags. 

He kept it quiet from nearly everyone, Travis included. Sanders didn’t even tell his own sons, Shedeur and Shilo, as the three prepared for the NFL Draft. “They didn’t know what the extent of it was,” he later said, explaining that he wanted them focused on making rosters, not worrying about their dad’s health. He even changed his phone number more than once just to avoid having too many difficult conversations with people. That level of vulnerability felt incompatible with attending his protégé’s joyful ceremony. Speaking on Asante Samuel’s podcast, Deion opened up about the conversation where he explained to Travis why he couldn’t be there for the wedding:

“Travis is like my son; he flew down because he wanted to see me face-to-face, because I had to show him why I couldn’t come to the wedding. Because I couldn’t put the two bags full of blood and everything in a place where I’m going to hide them at the wedding… I had to tell him like, ‘Dude, I can’t come. I apologize, but this is why. And when he saw that, he’s like, ‘I’ll be there,'” said Deion Sanders.

Not long after that, Travis visited Deion again, this time for a fishing trip near Coach Prime’s Texas home. The moment was captured in a video filmed by Deion Jr. and shared on Instagram. It was one of Sanders’s first on-camera appearances after news of his health issues had begun to surface, but he appeared to be in good spirits. From what we know now, getting there has been far from easy. 

The diagnosis had come months earlier, found in a vascular test, a part of his regular check-ups due to a history of blood clots. It escalated fast, and recovery from the surgery was painful. In his words, “This was not an easy task. … It was dynamic. It was tough. It wasn’t a cakewalk. It wasn’t easy..that was a fight, but we made it.”

Now he’s declared “cured” of cancer by his surgeon, Dr. Janet Kukreja, nearly 25 pounds lighter (some of which he’s gained back), jokes about needing a port-a-potty on the sidelines, and back to coaching. Coach Prime is set to begin his third season with the Buffaloes, and says he’s just as committed off the field: using his story to remind others to “Get checked out.”