Featured Image Credit: The Why with Dwyane Wade
Topics: NBA, Basketball
Luke Davies
A NBA Hall of Famer has opened up about his cancer diagnosis and noticed a sudden change which can be easily missed.
Dwyane Wade, a three-time NBA champion, played for the likes of the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers during an illustrious career, as well as representing Team USA at both the Athens and Beijing Olympics - winning bronze and gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 editions of the games.
In 2020, the Heat retired his number three jersey to mark his trophy-laden career. In 2023 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
However, in December of that year, Wade, 43, had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right kidney, which he revealed on Thursday.
Speaking about the ordeal on his podcast ‘The Why with Dwyane Wade’ he explained how he started noticing changes in his urination, which got weaker and slower before he decided to get checked by a doctor.
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“Because I did the full body scan, they were able to see my entire body, my entire insides, and they were able to see something that was on my kidney,” said Wade.
“I had a personal decision to make, and what it was, ‘If this is cancerous, if this [is a] tumour, [if] this cyst is cancerous, on your kidney, you’re 41 years old, you probably need surgery because it’s something that needs to be removed so it doesn’t spread,” he added.
He then revealed that doctors removed around 40 percent of his kidney and called it one of the most vulnerable times in his life.
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“I think it was the first time my family, my dad, my kids, they saw me weak,” Wade explained.
“That moment was probably the weakest point I’ve ever felt in my life. The moments that I was by myself, I was struggling.
“As a man, you never want your family to see you weak. Don’t want to be perceived [as] weak, and you don’t want to be seen in your weak moments, right? But I had to.”
He then explained how he “found strength” in his family who supported him throughout his recovery.