Dwyane Wade reflects on part of cancer journey that made him 'scared'

03/11/2025 11:17 PM

Dwyane Wade is getting vulnerable about his cancer diagnosis. The former Miami Heat player reflected on his own family history with family when his father and grandfather were diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“I just started to be like, okay, well this is probably a part of my genetics and my history, let me go get checked out,” Wade told during Today with Jenna & Friends on March 11. “When I turned 40, I went into the doctor and I was like, 'Listen, I want to know everything.' And in the midst of that, I was like, 'Here are a few things that I've been feeling.'”

Wade revealed that he started feeling symptoms such as his “urine was coming out slow” and had various stomach pains.

“I got a call from my doctor and in the midst of that call, you could just hear her uncertainty,” he said. “They thought they saw something on my kidney. They were like, 'Well, we don't know if it's cancerous, but there's something on there.'”

Wade knew that things were getting “serious” and began to think that there was “a possibility that I might have cancer.'”

After hearing from one doctor, a third doctor initiated a game plan for the retired NBA player to determine a proper diagnosis.

“He was like, 'Listen, we'll not know unless we're able to go in and have surgery and then we're able to test it. We want to get it off, because we don't want this to spread.' So now, yeah, now I'm scared and that's when I knew it was really serious.”

Once he knew he had to get surgery to determine what was going on, he had another important decision to make — which family members would be there in the hospital to support him?

“I found out you can only have two people in the waiting room — one to walk you in, and one once you wake up,” he recalled of the rules he had to follow about the procedure.

The three-time NBA champion chose for his father to escort him in the room despite being “very nervous” before the surgery.

“We were just cracking jokes and trying to keep it light,” said Wade.

“No one has ever really experienced me being weak,” Wade explained. “I've always been the strong one, the most confident one, the world champion that has lifted the trophies over his head. That's the image, but this was a moment where I knew I was going to be uncertain and a little weak.”

His wife Gabrielle Union was there for him when he woke up and admitted that he was “most afraid of being that vulnerable” in front of her since he’s very “prideful.”

“It sounds crazy because those are supposed to be the ones you want to be there in those moments of weakness,” Wade added speaking of Union and their children, “but you don't want them to see you in that space.”

He later got the confirmation from his doctor “it was cancer.” Wade added that they “caught it early” as the doctor diagnosed him with “Stage 1.”

His diagnosis was in 2023 as was his surgery. Doctors had to remove 40% of his kidney to remove the cancerous tumor. Now, the former athlete is ready to let his life resume without worry.

“Now I'm back. I'm strong, I'm healthy. I feel great. I'm just a little more cautious,” he said. “I feel like one of the lucky ones. I'm cancer free.”

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