When you hear “Deion Sanders,” you don’t picture fragility. You picture flash, dominance, and sunglasses indoors. But beneath all that swagger was a fight few saw coming. It started with leg pain, just another hurdle, he thought. But doctors discovered dangerous blood clots, not just in one leg but both. It was a condition that posed life-altering risks and would soon reveal a much more complex and urgent medical concern.

Further testing brought an even heavier blow: a tumor in his bladder. Sanders was now facing a cancer diagnosis when his kids were inching toward their rookie seasons. The response was swift and decisive; doctors performed a major surgery to remove his bladder and reconstruct it using a segment of his intestine. Recovery was long and demanding. Physically, Coach Prime stood firm, but mentally? He almost gave up on his life.

On Monday, Deion Sanders sat down with the Cowboys legend, Michael Irvin, where he talked about his tough cancer battle, as he revealed the toughest decision he had to make for his kids and family—to make the Will. “It was the the toughest time, the most difficult time was cuz I I I got a several hours surgery coming up the next day and I had to make sure being a businessman, my estate was great,” he told Irvin. 

And when Irvin asked if he feared he might not make it back, you could see Deion nearly unravel. “You never know,” he added. “I don’t I don’t want my kids and my family to be in a situation that I didn’t take care of business. So the night before, I’m up with my lawyers at the crib, and we’re getting it done, and I’m sitting up here thinking about each kid. All right. Okay. Okay. They can make it with this. I know, I know, they can make this. I need to get them a little more.”

“My sister, she’s going to handle everything. I mean, I’m going through that and I got that done the night before and I had, I think, up five some pickup to get to the hospital by 6, um, the next morning or something like that.” While battling an aggressive form of bladder cancer, Coach Prime wasn’t sure if he’d make it, just at the age of 87.

That led him to make a will for his kids. On Sunday, the production crew Well Off Media, which covers the Buffaloes and Deion Sanders, released a video on YouTube of Sanders’ first meeting with his team. However, a certain clip in the middle of the video grabbed everyone’s attention. “I don’t know if I’m ready mentally, emotionally,” Sanders was spotted saying in the clip dated May 9.

“Last night was tough, yesterday was tough, because I had to make a will. That’s not easy at all, to think that you may not be here. You don’t want to be a fool and leave and not have your business affairs in order.” The silver lining? Well, Sanders walked through a storm so dark, he truly wondered if he’d see the other side, sure. But the fate had other plans, as Coach Prime now stands tall, healthy, and gearing up for year three with the Buffaloes.

Deion Sanders is fit and fine to coach the Buffaloes

“It was dynamic. It was tough, it wasn’t a cakewalk… And it wasn’t easy.” Deion Sanders arrived at the news conference with shocking news on Monday, as he revealed his cancer battle. Though he confirmed that he battled an aggressive form of bladder cancer. But his doctor, Janet Kukreja, the director of urologic oncology at the CU Cancer Center/UCHealth University of Colorado hospital, confirmed that Sanders is healthy, fit, and ready to coach the Buffaloes.

Coach Prime revealed he’d shed 25 pounds through it all, and with a grin, he joked, “I was like Atlanta Falcons Prime at one point.” Classic Sanders. But amidst his health scare, Deion remained upbeat throughout his surgical procedure, says his medical team. “He never folded one time and never wavered,” team trainer Lauren Askevold said.

He went on, “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.” If history has taught us anything about Sanders, then it is his faith in god. And he never wavered in his belief that he would return for his year three at Colorado. “I always knew I was going to coach again. It was never in my spirit, in my heart, that God wouldn’t allow me to coach again,” he said.

That said, Deion Sanders is back at the helm for Colorado. He handed the NFL Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter this year—who knows what next year’s draft will owe him?