Colorado football coach Deion Sanders said he will undergo surgery Friday to fix blood clots in his legs but downplayed the risk of amputation after one of his doctors mentioned it last week.
The news marks the latest of his health woes since 2021, when blood clots led to a life-threatening situation and the amputation of two toes on his left foot.
He since has suffered problems with other toes on that same foot and said on Instagram Thursday that the procedure on Friday is “to try to get those clots so now I can have proper blood flow to the leg so they can fix the toes.”
Sanders, 55, said he visited the doctor recently and has clots in each leg. In another consultation with doctors last week, Sanders had been told his blood circulation had worsened to the point where the blood pressure near his left ankle had only 66% of the blood pressure of his arm. One doctor told him then he risked amputation of that foot.
But Sanders said Thursday said there is “no talk of amputation.”
“The doctor was just telling me, worse comes to worst, this was going to happen, but I believe in staying right so we never have to take that left,” Sanders said.
What happened?
The formerly fleet-footed Pro Football Hall of Famer has been hobbled by foot problems since 2021, when he had several surgeries to repair a toe dislocation, an inflamed nerve and then blood clots. His issues with that foot stemmed from his playing days in the NFL but grew worse that year after two of his toes turned unusually dark in the wake of one of the surgeries. He then was told to undergo another surgery right away, according to an interview he gave former NFL star Shannon Sharpe in December.
At one point, Sanders told Sharpe his life was at risk. He also learned that blood clots run in his family and said his mother told him an uncle died as a result.
But the health scare only caused him to miss three games that season as coach of Jackson State before returning to the sidelines in a wheelchair.
What’s his outlook?
Less than two years later, Sanders said in the video Thursday that two of the remaining three toes on his left foot are hammertoes, which are abnormally bent. He said the surgery Friday could be followed by other procedures to “straighten out” his toes and foot.
“I’m not receiving enough blood flow in order to do that surgery and another surgery to fix the dislocation of the foot as well,” he said.
He still takes blood thinners, walks with a limp and has tried remedies to relieve his discomfort, which includes no longer having feeling at the bottom of his left foot.
He laughed about one proposed remedy, saying somebody offered him a way in which “all my toes would grow back.” He currently only has eight after the big toe and adjacent toe were amputated in 2021.
“Now I can finally move forward and get this stuff fixed,” Sanders said in the video. “So I’m having surgery tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your support. And you’ve got to understand: I ain’t going nowhere because we coming.”
Colorado hired Sanders from Jackson State in December. His first game as Colorado’s coach is Sept. 2 at TCU.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
