Dwyane Wade opens up about his kidney cancer diagnosis and what led up to it.
In a recent interview, the retired NBA star revealed that he went for a check-up with his doctor when he turned 40 to put his own fears at ease citing his father’s diagnosis of prostate cancer. Although he felt fine, during his appointment that was three years ago, he told his doctor that he began noticing changes while urinating and had pain in his stomach.
“I talked about just having a slow stream, like sometimes when I would go to the bathroom, my urine would come out a little slow,” he said. “I had some some cramps, some pain, a little bit at times in my stomach that I did not understand. But I didn’t think nothing of it. And so once I finally went in, I was like, OK, I just want to know everything.”
Wade said that the doctors urged him to have an MRI done in order to find the source of the pain. They found a cancerous mass and Wade was hesitant to get surgery although he’s had surgery before on other parts of his body due to his basketball career.
“She [the doctor] expressed to me that it was very early, but they thought they saw something on my kidneys. I didn’t go in for my kidneys. I went in to check what was going on my stomach and my prostate,” he said.
He continued, “Immediately they try to say, ‘Well, we don’t know if it’s cancerous, but it’s something on there, and you’re a young man, and we just want to make sure that you obviously are able to live this healthy lifestyle.’” “So now I’m processing the possibility of surgery on my kidneys. I’ve had it on my knees, I’ve had it on my shoulder, but it’s something that feels a little realer when it’s inside your body. [My doctor said] in the next five or 10 years, if this is cancer, [it can] not only spread through your kidneys, but it [can] also spread through your lungs and eventually to your brain. That’s when I knew that was, like, really serious.”
Dwyane Wade revealed that 40% of his kidney had been removed and he is now cancer free. His wife Gabrielle Union also spoke about the scary time they both faced but gave a positive health update.
“He’s cancer free now. He was smart to delay talking about his diagnosis and the surgery for over a year to give us all a little time to make peace with it and let all of our very intense fears kind of dissipate a little bit, but he’s brave,” she said. “He’s doing well. We are proud of him.”