Colorado head coach Deion Sanders listens to a question during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, on July 9. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado coach Deion Sanders disclosed Monday that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer but after surgery his oncologist has considered him cured, so he plans to coach this season.

Dr. Janet Kukreja, the director of urologic oncology at the CU Cancer Center/UCHealth University of Colorado hospital, said Sanders had his bladder removed as part of the surgical plan.

“It was dynamic. It was tough. It wasn’t a cakewalk. It wasn’t easy,” said Sanders, who arrived to his news conference wearing a cowboy hat and overalls along with sunglasses, which he took off after getting choked up. “That was a fight, but we made it.”

Sanders, who turns 58 next month, spoke on the eve of fall camp as he enters his third season overseeing the Buffaloes. He brought his medical team with him to discuss his diagnosis. A section of his intestine was reconstructed to function as a bladder. He won’t need any radiation or chemotherapy, Kukreja said.

“The ‘C’ word, when we hear that word there’s normally a life sentence attached to it,” Sanders said. “But not this time. But not this time.”

Sanders said he lost about 25 pounds, leading him to joke, “I was like Atlanta Falcons Prime at one point.”

Just Sanders being Sanders — he remained upbeat throughout the entire process, his medical team said.

“He never folded one time and never wavered,” 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.”