Deion 'Coach Prime' Sanders Advocates for Bladder Cancer Screening After Close Call
'Coach Prime' said the cancer was detected early after he underwent a routine CT scan to monitor his other health conditions.
Experts say it's particularly important for men over 50 to get screened for bladder cancer since the disease can be treated if caught in its early stages.
University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is getting the word out about bladder cancer screenings after his close call with the disease.
'Coach Prime,' 57, said that medical professionals detected bladder cancer after he underwent a routine CT scan earlier this year. In a recent press conference, the former two-sport star said the early diagnosis led to successful bladder surgery, and he is now 'cured' of his cancer.
'Men — everybody — get checked out because if it wasn't for me getting tested for something else, they wouldn't have stumbled upon this,' said Sanders, who played professional football and baseball. 'And make sure you go to get the right care because without wonderful people like this, I probably wouldn't be sitting here today.'
Sanders went in for his CT scan this spring because of previous issues he had with blood clots and chronic vascular disease that led to the amputation of two of his toes last year.
The scan revealed there was a tumor in Sanders' bladder. Surgeons removed the tumor and learned the cancer had invaded the bladder wall but had not yet reached the muscular layer beyond the wall.
Janet Kukreja, MD, a robotic surgery expert at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said at the press conference that she recommended bladder removal because, without that surgery, there was a 50% chance the cancer would return.
'I am pleased to report that the results from the surgery are that he is cured from the cancer,' Kukreja said.
Sanders said he went public with his diagnosis and treatment to help save lives. 'We are helping some folks today. There's some folks right now calling their doctors, scheduling checkups,' he said.
Experts say Sanders is offering good advice.
'It is important to understand that the earlier bladder cancer is diagnosed, the less involved the treatment and increase in the rate of cure,' said Ramkishen Narayanan, MD, an urologist and urologic oncologist and the director of the Center for Urologic Health at The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center Occupational in California.
Stages and risks of bladder cancer
The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates there will be about 85,000 new cases of bladder cancer in the United States in 2025. About 65,000 of those cases will be males.
More than 90% of people diagnosed with bladder cancer are over the age of 55, with the average age of diagnosis being 73.
The ACS projects that about 17,000 people in the U.S. will die from bladder cancer this year. About 12,000 will be males.
Bladder cancer is the 10 th leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Bladder cancer death rates have decreased by about 1% per year since 2013.
The stages of bladder can vary. The five stages are:
Stage 0: Cancer hasn't spread beyond the bladder lining
Stage 1: Cancer has spread past the lining of the bladder
Stage 2: Cancer has spread to the layer of the muscle in the bladder
Stage 3: Cancer has spread to tissues surrounding the bladder
Stage 4: Cancer has spread to neighboring areas of the bladder
The 5-year survival rates for bladder cancer are vastly different, depending on the stage. According to the National Cancer Institute, there is a 97% survival rate for cancer that hasn't spread past the lining of the bladder but only an 8% survival rate for cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Jack Jacoub, MD, a medical oncologist and the medical director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast and Saddleback Medical Centers in California, told Healthline there is a big difference between low risk bladder cancer in its early stages and the high risk version in the latter stages.
He said cancer spreading to the muscle layer and surrounding tissues is 'the critical point in the development of bladder cancer.'
Jacoub said it's not entirely clear how bladder cancer develops. He noted that, like the colon, the bladder stores waste products, and the chemicals from those products can leak into surrounding layers and tissues.
'The bladder at the end of the day is a reservoir,' he explained.
Symptoms and treatment for bladder cancer
Bladder cancer occurs when abnormal bladder cells divide and grow out of control. These cells can form a tumor and eventually spread to surrounding muscles and organs.
The number one risk factor is smoking. About 50% of bladder cancer cases are linked to smoking.
The ACS reports that people who smoke may be three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than people who don't smoke.
'Smoking hands down is the biggest risk factor,' Jacoub said.
Sanders has never smoked, so it's clear there are still other risk factors. They include exposure to certain chemicals, a family history of the disease, and chronic bladder infections.
'Cigarette smoking is the dominant risk factor — carcinogens are inhaled, filtered by [the] kidneys into urine, and exposed to the bladder,' noted Narayanan.
'Exposures — aromatic amines and dyes found in industries such as metal, leather, painting and hair-coloring, plastics manufacturing, and firefighting — significantly elevate risk,' he told Healthline.
The most common symptoms of bladder cancer are:
blood in the urine
painful urination
frequent urination
urgent urination
urinary incontinence
Bladder cancer can also cause pain in the abdomen and lower back, as well as fatigue, loss of appetite, and swollen feet.
The disease is usually initially detected from lab tests, such as a urinalysis. Doctors may then order tests such as a cystoscopy, a biopsy, or a CT scan for further diagnosis.
The treatment for bladder cancer depends on the stage at which it is discovered.
In the early stages, doctors may elect to simply remove the tumor and/or order chemotherapy or immunotherapy for the patient.
In later stages, doctors may decide to remove part or all of the bladder as well as order chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy.
'Bladder cancer is often treatable, especially when found early,' Eugene Shkolyar, MD, a clinical associate professor of urology at Stanford University in California, told Healthline. 'The most important determinant in treatment is what type of bladder cancer is found.'
Deion Sanders' bladder removed during cancer treatment
In Sanders' case, doctors elected to take out his entire bladder.
In that type of surgery, doctors first remove the bladder. Next, they cut out about a foot and a half of the end section of the small intestine known as the ileum.
Surgeons then slice that section of the ileum so it lies flat. Then they fold the section in half and attach the back end to the front end.
The surgeon then secures this neobladder to the kidneys and urethra.
The neobladder doesn't function like the original bladder because it doesn't send signals to the brain to let a person know when to urinate.
People like Sanders who have neobladders undergo training to learn to control their urination functions during the day. However, there is usually leakage when the person is asleep.
Shkolyar said the recovery after bladder removal can be a long road.
'After bladder removal (cystectomy) recovery can take several months,' he said. 'This is a major operation that involved not only removing the bladder but also re-routing the urinary tract using the intestines. Patients first focus on regaining bowel function and learning how to manage their urinary system. Afterward, the focus is on return to good nutrition, physical strength, and function. This can take up to three months for some.'
At a recent press conference, Sanders acknowledged he now 'depends on Depends.' He noted there will probably be a portable toilet on the field when he coaches University of Colorado football games.
Sanders said it's important that people talk about these issues.
'I know there's a lot of people out there going through what I'm going through. And dealing with what I'm dealing with,' he said. 'And let's stop being ashamed of it.'
Shkolyar said follow-up appointments are crucial for anyone who has been treated for bladder cancer.
'No matter the treatment, ongoing follow-up is important to watch for recurrence and manage any side effects,' he said. 'Support from multidisciplinary healthcare teams with expertise in bladder cancer is critical.'
Sandip Prasad, MD, the surgical director of genitourinary oncology and vice chair of urology at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, a part of the Atlantic Health System, agrees that consistent check-ins with medical professionals is crucial for people who have had bladder cancer.
'For all bladder cancer patients, there will be a lifetime of follow-up to ensure the disease does not recur,' Prasad told Healthline. 'For this reason, your relationship with your urologist is critically important to maintain good communication, preserve quality of life, and achieve a long and healthy life as a bladder cancer survivor.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
25 minutes ago
- CNN
Scientists say it may be possible to protect aging brains from Alzheimer's with an old remedy — lithium
In a major new finding almost a decade in the making, researchers at Harvard Medical School say they've found a key that may unlock many of the mysteries of Alzheimer's disease and brain aging — the humble metal lithium. Lithium is best known to medicine as a mood stabilizer given to people who have bipolar disorder and depression. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1970, but it was used by doctors to treat mood disorders for nearly a century beforehand. Now, for the first time, researchers have shown that lithium is naturally present in the body in tiny amounts and that cells require it to function normally — much like vitamin C or iron. It also appears to play a critical role in maintaining brain health. In a series of experiments reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers at Harvard and Rush universities found that depleting lithium in the diet of normal mice caused their brains to develop inflammation and changes associated with accelerated aging. In mice that were specially bred to develop the same kinds of brain changes as humans with Alzheimer's disease, a low-lithium diet revved the buildup of sticky proteins that form plaques and tangles in the brains that are hallmarks of the disease. It also sped up memory loss. Maintaining normal lithium levels in mice as they aged, however, protected them from brain changes associated with Alzheimer's. If further research supports the findings, it could open the door to new treatments and diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's, which affects an estimated 6.7 million older adults in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research provides a unifying theory that helps explain so many of the puzzle pieces scientists have been trying to fit together for decades. 'It is a potential candidate for a common mechanism leading to the multisystem degeneration of the brain that precedes dementia,' said Dr. Bruce Yankner, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, who led the study. 'It will take a lot more science to determine whether this is a common pathway… or one of several pathways,' to Alzheimer's, he added. 'The data are very intriguing.' In an editorial published in Nature, Dr. Ashley Bush, a neuroscientist who directs the Melbourne Dementia Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said the researchers 'present compelling evidence that lithium does in fact have a physiological role and that normal aging might impair the regulation of lithium levels in the brain.' He was not involved in the study. Close examination of human and animal brain tissues, along with genetic investigations in the study, found the mechanism that appears to be at play: Beta amyloid plaques — the sticky deposits that gum up the brains of Alzheimer's patients — bind to lithium and hold it, including the type that's normally present in the body, as well as the commonly prescribed form. This binding depletes lithium available for nearby cells, including important scavengers known as microglia. When the brain is healthy and functioning normally, microglia are waste managers, clearing away beta amyloid before it can accumulate and can cause harm. In the team's experiments, microglia from the brains of lithium-deficient mice showed a reduced ability to sweep away and break down beta amyloid. Yankner believes this creates a downward spiral. The accumulation of beta amyloid soaks up more and more lithium, further crippling the brain's ability to clear it away. He and his colleagues tested different lithium compounds and found one — lithium orotate — that doesn't bind to amyloid beta. When they gave lithium orotate to mice with signs of Alzheimer's in their brains, these changes reversed: Beta amyloid plaques and tangles of tau that were choking the memory centers of the brain were reduced. Mice treated with lithium were once again able to navigate mazes and learn to identify new objects, whereas those who got placebos showed no change in their memory and thinking deficits. In its natural form, lithium is an element, a soft, silvery-white metal that readily combines with other elements to form compounds and salts. It's naturally present in the environment, including in food and water. Scientists have never fully known how it works to improve mood — only that it does. The original formula for 7Up soda included lithium — it was called 7Up Lithiated Lemon Soda — and touted as a hangover cure and mood lifter 'for hospital or home use.' Some hot springs known to contain mineral water brimming with lithium became sought out wellness destinations for their curative powers. Still, people who take prescription doses of lithium — which were much higher than the doses used in the new study — can sometimes develop thyroid or kidney toxicity. Tests of the mice given low doses of lithium orotate showed no signs of damage. That's encouraging, Yankner said, but it doesn't mean people should try to take lithium supplements on their own. 'A mouse is not a human. Nobody should take anything based just on mouse studies,' Yankner said. 'The lithium treatment data we have is in mice, and it needs to be replicated in humans. We need to find the right dose in humans,' he added. The normal amounts of lithium in our bodies, and the concentrations given to the mice, are small — about 1,000 times lower than doses given to treat bipolar disorder, Yankner notes. Yankner said he hoped toxicity trials of lithium salts would start soon. Neither he nor any of his co-authors have a financial interest in the outcome of the research, he said. The National Institutes of Health was the major funder of the study, along with grants from private foundations. 'NIH support was absolutely critical for this work,' Yankner said. The new research corroborates earlier studies hinting that lithium might be important for Alzheimer's. A large Danish study published in 2017 found people with higher levels of lithium in their drinking water were less likely to be diagnosed with dementia compared with those whose tap water contained naturally lower lithium levels. Another large study published in 2022 from the United Kingdom found that people prescribed lithium were about half as likely has those in a control group to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, suggesting a protective effect of the drug. But lithium's use in psychiatry caused it to become type cast as therapeutic, Yankner said. No one realized it might be important to the body's normal physiology. That happened in part because the amounts of lithium that typically circulate in the body are so small, they couldn't be quantified until recently. Yankner and his team had to adapt new technology to measure it. In the first stage of the research, the scientists tested the brain tissue and blood of older patients collected by the brain bank at Rush University for trace levels of 27 metals. Some of the patients had no history of memory trouble, while others had early memory decline and pronounced Alzheimer's. While there was no change in the levels of most metals they measured, lithium was an exception. Lithium levels were consistently lower in patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's compared to those with normal brain function. The brains of patients Alzheimer's disease also showed increased levels of zinc and decreased levels of copper, something scientists had observed before. Consistently finding lower lithium levels in the brains of people with memory loss amounted to a smoking gun, Yankner said. 'At first, frankly, we were skeptical of the result because it wasn't expected,' said Yankner. But it held up even when they checked samples from other brain banks at Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke and Washington universities. 'We wanted to know whether this drop in lithium was biologically meaningful, so we devised an experimental protocol where we could take lithium selectively out of the diet of mice and see what happens,' Yankner said. When they fed the mice a low-lithium diet, simply dropping their natural levels by 50%, their brains rapidly developed features of Alzheimer's. 'The neurons started to degenerate. The immune cells in the brain went wild in terms of increased inflammation and worse maintenance function of the neurons around them, and it looked more like an advanced Alzheimer patient,' Yankner said. The team also found the gene expression profiles of lithium-deficient mice and people who had Alzheimer's disease looked very similar. The researchers then started to look at how this drop in lithium might occur. Yankner said in the earliest stages there's a decrease in the uptake of lithium in the brain from the blood. They don't yet know exactly how or why it happens, but it's likely to be from a variety of things including reduced dietary intake, as well as genetic and environmental factors. The major source of lithium for most people is their diet. Some of the foods that have the most lithium are leafy green vegetables, nuts, legumes and some spices like turmeric and cumin. Some mineral waters are also rich sources. In other words, Yankner said, a lot of the foods that have already proven to be healthy and reduce a person's risk of dementia may be beneficial because of their lithium content. 'You know, oftentimes one finds in science that things may have an effect, and you think you know exactly why, but then subsequently turn out to be completely wrong about why,' he said.
CNN
25 minutes ago
- CNN
Scientists say it may be possible to protect aging brains from Alzheimer's with an old remedy — lithium
Chronic diseases Dementia Getting olderFacebookTweetLink Follow In a major new finding almost a decade in the making, researchers at Harvard Medical School say they've found a key that may unlock many of the mysteries of Alzheimer's disease and brain aging — the humble metal lithium. Lithium is best known to medicine as a mood stabilizer given to people who have bipolar disorder and depression. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1970, but it was used by doctors to treat mood disorders for nearly a century beforehand. Now, for the first time, researchers have shown that lithium is naturally present in the body in tiny amounts and that cells require it to function normally — much like vitamin C or iron. It also appears to play a critical role in maintaining brain health. In a series of experiments reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers at Harvard and Rush universities found that depleting lithium in the diet of normal mice caused their brains to develop inflammation and changes associated with accelerated aging. In mice that were specially bred to develop the same kinds of brain changes as humans with Alzheimer's disease, a low-lithium diet revved the buildup of sticky proteins that form plaques and tangles in the brains that are hallmarks of the disease. It also sped up memory loss. Maintaining normal lithium levels in mice as they aged, however, protected them from brain changes associated with Alzheimer's. If further research supports the findings, it could open the door to new treatments and diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's, which affects an estimated 6.7 million older adults in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research provides a unifying theory that helps explain so many of the puzzle pieces scientists have been trying to fit together for decades. 'It is a potential candidate for a common mechanism leading to the multisystem degeneration of the brain that precedes dementia,' said Dr. Bruce Yankner, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, who led the study. 'It will take a lot more science to determine whether this is a common pathway… or one of several pathways,' to Alzheimer's, he added. 'The data are very intriguing.' In an editorial published in Nature, Dr. Ashley Bush, a neuroscientist who directs the Melbourne Dementia Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said the researchers 'present compelling evidence that lithium does in fact have a physiological role and that normal aging might impair the regulation of lithium levels in the brain.' He was not involved in the study. Close examination of human and animal brain tissues, along with genetic investigations in the study, found the mechanism that appears to be at play: Beta amyloid plaques — the sticky deposits that gum up the brains of Alzheimer's patients — bind to lithium and hold it, including the type that's normally present in the body, as well as the commonly prescribed form. This binding depletes lithium available for nearby cells, including important scavengers known as microglia. When the brain is healthy and functioning normally, microglia are waste managers, clearing away beta amyloid before it can accumulate and can cause harm. In the team's experiments, microglia from the brains of lithium-deficient mice showed a reduced ability to sweep away and break down beta amyloid. Yankner believes this creates a downward spiral. The accumulation of beta amyloid soaks up more and more lithium, further crippling the brain's ability to clear it away. He and his colleagues tested different lithium compounds and found one — lithium orotate — that doesn't bind to amyloid beta. When they gave lithium orotate to mice with signs of Alzheimer's in their brains, these changes reversed: Beta amyloid plaques and tangles of tau that were choking the memory centers of the brain were reduced. Mice treated with lithium were once again able to navigate mazes and learn to identify new objects, whereas those who got placebos showed no change in their memory and thinking deficits. In its natural form, lithium is an element, a soft, silvery-white metal that readily combines with other elements to form compounds and salts. It's naturally present in the environment, including in food and water. Scientists have never fully known how it works to improve mood — only that it does. The original formula for 7Up soda included lithium — it was called 7Up Lithiated Lemon Soda — and touted as a hangover cure and mood lifter 'for hospital or home use.' Some hot springs known to contain mineral water brimming with lithium became sought out wellness destinations for their curative powers. Still, people who take prescription doses of lithium — which were much higher than the doses used in the new study — can sometimes develop thyroid or kidney toxicity. Tests of the mice given low doses of lithium orotate showed no signs of damage. That's encouraging, Yankner said, but it doesn't mean people should try to take lithium supplements on their own. 'A mouse is not a human. Nobody should take anything based just on mouse studies,' Yankner said. 'The lithium treatment data we have is in mice, and it needs to be replicated in humans. We need to find the right dose in humans,' he added. The normal amounts of lithium in our bodies, and the concentrations given to the mice, are small — about 1,000 times lower than doses given to treat bipolar disorder, Yankner notes. Yankner said he hoped toxicity trials of lithium salts would start soon. Neither he nor any of his co-authors have a financial interest in the outcome of the research, he said. The National Institutes of Health was the major funder of the study, along with grants from private foundations. 'NIH support was absolutely critical for this work,' Yankner said. The new research corroborates earlier studies hinting that lithium might be important for Alzheimer's. A large Danish study published in 2017 found people with higher levels of lithium in their drinking water were less likely to be diagnosed with dementia compared with those whose tap water contained naturally lower lithium levels. Another large study published in 2022 from the United Kingdom found that people prescribed lithium were about half as likely has those in a control group to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's, suggesting a protective effect of the drug. But lithium's use in psychiatry caused it to become type cast as therapeutic, Yankner said. No one realized it might be important to the body's normal physiology. That happened in part because the amounts of lithium that typically circulate in the body are so small, they couldn't be quantified until recently. Yankner and his team had to adapt new technology to measure it. In the first stage of the research, the scientists tested the brain tissue and blood of older patients collected by the brain bank at Rush University for trace levels of 27 metals. Some of the patients had no history of memory trouble, while others had early memory decline and pronounced Alzheimer's. While there was no change in the levels of most metals they measured, lithium was an exception. Lithium levels were consistently lower in patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's compared to those with normal brain function. The brains of patients Alzheimer's disease also showed increased levels of zinc and decreased levels of copper, something scientists had observed before. Consistently finding lower lithium levels in the brains of people with memory loss amounted to a smoking gun, Yankner said. 'At first, frankly, we were skeptical of the result because it wasn't expected,' said Yankner. But it held up even when they checked samples from other brain banks at Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke and Washington universities. 'We wanted to know whether this drop in lithium was biologically meaningful, so we devised an experimental protocol where we could take lithium selectively out of the diet of mice and see what happens,' Yankner said. When they fed the mice a low-lithium diet, simply dropping their natural levels by 50%, their brains rapidly developed features of Alzheimer's. 'The neurons started to degenerate. The immune cells in the brain went wild in terms of increased inflammation and worse maintenance function of the neurons around them, and it looked more like an advanced Alzheimer patient,' Yankner said. The team also found the gene expression profiles of lithium-deficient mice and people who had Alzheimer's disease looked very similar. The researchers then started to look at how this drop in lithium might occur. Yankner said in the earliest stages there's a decrease in the uptake of lithium in the brain from the blood. They don't yet know exactly how or why it happens, but it's likely to be from a variety of things including reduced dietary intake, as well as genetic and environmental factors. The major source of lithium for most people is their diet. Some of the foods that have the most lithium are leafy green vegetables, nuts, legumes and some spices like turmeric and cumin. Some mineral waters are also rich sources. In other words, Yankner said, a lot of the foods that have already proven to be healthy and reduce a person's risk of dementia may be beneficial because of their lithium content. 'You know, oftentimes one finds in science that things may have an effect, and you think you know exactly why, but then subsequently turn out to be completely wrong about why,' he said.
Wall Street Journal
30 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
No Alzheimer's Drug for Old Men?
Increasing evidence shows that anti-amyloid Alzheimer's treatments can slow disease progression and give patients years more of quality time with loved ones. So will the Trump Administration at long last drop the Biden rules that restrict access to these medicines? Two studies presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference last week show that the benefits of amyloid-clearing monoclonal antibodies by Eli Lilly and Biogen-Eisai grow over time. The drugs slowed cognitive decline in clinical trials used for Food and Drug Administration approval by some 25% to 36% over 18 months. In follow-up studies, these benefits doubled at three years for Lilly's treatment and roughly quadrupled over four years for Biogen-Eisai's. That's great news for patients.
