Moment Colorado college football star tells teammates his heartbreaking health news
Deion Sanders stood next to one of his defensive players, Nikhil Webb Walker, and watched as the sophomore delivered the heartbreaking news of his lymphoma diagnosis to his teammates.
Walker explained that the day before he told his teammates, he learned he had a form of blood cancer.
The 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive lineman will also have to undergo “a lot of chemo” to get into remission.
The silver lining is that his stage of lymphoma is ‘highly treatable’ and someone of his age and physical condition is well placed to make a full recovery.
“I tried to keep it a secret because I didn’t want to distract the team,” Walker said. “I want to see you all do what you do and just keep winning.”
Sanders stood next to Walker as he delivered the news of his lymphoma diagnosis to his team
Lymphoma is a form of blood cancer, the stage of which Walker says is “highly treatable.”
Sanders then explained to Walker that he was a valued member of his team, no matter how much football he played.
“First of all, you are never a distraction. You are a blessing and you make us understand what life really is,” Sanders said. “We play the college game we call football, where we can make millions of dollars.”
‘And we give people satisfaction, we give them ups and downs, we give them every kind of emotion. But what you’re dealing with is real. And the way you handled it was simply admirable. We love you, we appreciate you, we are here for you. Understand that we love you and there will always be a place for you here.”
Walker has played in three games this season, the last coming on September 28 against Central Florida.
Before moving to Colorado, Walker played two years at New Mexico State.
Due to the nature of his condition, Walker will likely need to be in remission to continue playing football. However, that seemed the furthest thing from Sanders’ thoughts.