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- Deion Sanders opened up about details of his long road to recovery after toe surgery.
- The Jackson State football coach revealed complications that occurred including painkiller withdrawal.
- Read more news about college football here.
Deion Sanders, AKA Coach Prime, missed a chunk of this past year’s football season at Jackson State after complications from toe surgery.
This week on The Limits with Jay Williams, Sanders opened up about his struggle recovering what ended up being eight surgeries and having to deal with painkiller withdrawal for the first time in his life.
“I was in a hospital for almost a month and I had eight surgeries in that time,” Sanders explained to Williams. “Eight surgeries and I lost a lot of blood. It was hell.”
“I was taking so many meds, Jay, that it was ridiculous,” said Sanders. “Because, you got to understand, I’ve never smoked, never drank in my life. So I’d never been high. But taking these meds, man, I see why people get addicted to that stuff, man.”
Doctors were worried that Deion Sanders might lose his leg or even die from the complications
“I was on so many meds because the pain was so excruciating that the detox period for me, I was sweating bullets when I got out, in the bed, sweating, sweating, sweating because I was so used to the meds at night, especially late at night,” he continued. “And it was crazy. But the toughest part, mentally and emotionally, was someone having to help me into bed, help me out of bed, take me to the bathroom, get me out of the bathroom.”
The 54-year-old Hall of Famer added, “I had ramps going up to the front door, rails they had to put in the bathroom so I could get on the darn toilet. I didn’t see no end to it at that time, although I always trusted God. It was just tough, man, emotionally.”
Jay Williams, who almost lost not only his basketball career, but his life in a motorcycle accident in which he suffered a fractured pelvis, a severed main nerve in his leg, and three torn ligaments in his left knee, asked Sanders if he ever became too dependent on painkillers.
“No, no,” Sanders replied. “When I was in the hospital, I was on a whole lot of meds. When I got out, you know, I had to wean myself off of them, and I did. But just sweating, man, I couldn’t understand, why am I sweating at night? But my body was yearning for the drugs. And I’m like, I can’t do that. I can’t do that. I can’t just pop these pills to make myself feel better.”