Always count on Deion Sanders to stay on his toes — figuratively, and now, literally.
The legendary former pro football player and current head coach at the University of Colorado has received two prosthetic toes to replace the ones he lost in 2022 after having them amputated.
Deion’s son, Deion Sanders Jr., shared the moment his dad got his new toes in a video via X on Wednesday, September 16.
In the video, a hospital worker handed Deion a box, saying, “Your toes are in here,” as he took them and joked that they’re “wrapped up like they’re a gift.”
When the nurse slipped the prosthetic onto his left foot, Deion yelled, “I’m 10 toes down again!”
Deion struggled to walk in the new toes at first, taking a few labored steps around the room as he began to get used to them. As the coach joked, his new and old toes haven’t had a chance to become friends yet.
“They gotta spend more time with each other cause right now, they’re not together,” he said. “This one’s mad cause they’ve been alone.”
Assuming his toes can get better acquainted, this should be the end of a saga for Deion that began in 2022 when he had routine surgery to fix a dislocated toe and inflamed nerve. It soon became clear, however, that he actually had three life-threatening blood clots.
“They brought him to the hospital and found out relatively quickly that the cause of it was a blood clot in the femoral artery, one of the main arteries that go into your leg,” orthopedic surgeon Dr. Steven Sheskie explained in the 2023 docuseries Coach Prime.
“They were talking about the amputation of toes,” Deion added. “Then they were talking about the amputation of my leg from the knee down. Then, they were trying to ensure I had life.”
He had developed compartment syndrome, a condition in which pressure builds up in a group of muscles, cutting off blood flow and oxygen, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It’s the same condition that nearly cost Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn her leg after her devastating injury at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
It’s also not the only recent health problem that Deion has had to deal with. He was also diagnosed with bladder cancer last year, and opened up about his battle earlier this summer, telling the Associated Press the lengths he went to in order to keep “fighting.”
“I was walking out on the property with a bag of blood and also urine and trying to get back,” he recalled. “But this expedited the process. Last year at this time I was in a whole different place, and I’m just thankful.”
Deion added that bladder reconstruction surgery, “Got me back in the game, got me back on my feet and got me out of the darn hospital and back into the normalcy of my life. I’m here to let people know there’s another option if you need surgery.”
