Dwyane Wade Details Kidney Surgery to Remove Cancerous Tumor

Dwyane Wade was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in late 2023, which required surgery to remove.

“This past calendar year was probably the first time in my life [that was] unexpected,” Wade, 43, said on the Thursday, January 30, episode of his “The Why” podcast. “When you go through physical elements that you can’t feel, you can’t see because I’m an athlete who’s been pretty healthy. … Post-retirement, you don’t get those same checkups [or] physicals.”

According to Wade, he “took a few years off” annual appointments and only saw a doctor after turning 40.

“I went in and I was like, ‘Doc, I want to know everything about my body head to toe. I got some things that I’m feeling. I got some stomach issues,’” Wade recalled. “In that process of checking the certain cramps that I feel at the time, checking why my piss is coming out slow [and] why my stream isn’t powerful [and] why it’s a little weak, I’m asking these questions now because my father went through something.”

Wade subsequently underwent a full-body scan, which indicated “that there was something on [his] right kidney.”

“I didn’t go in for my kidney, and so what I had on my kidney was a tumor,” the retired NBA star recalled. “It was [something] that could be biopsied, that they could surgically remove.”

Wade’s doctor then informed him that he needed kidney surgery to take out the tumor. After getting a second opinion, Wade made the “personal decision” to go under the knife to avoid cancer spreading inside his body.

“I made a decision to have surgery on December 18, 2023,” Wade said. “My father was there to walk me into the hospital. My wife [Gabrielle Union] was there when I woke up. There’s only two people you can have in hospital.”

He added, “Obviously, at 41 years old, [I’m a] pretty healthy guy that did have cancer. Thank God that I did do the surgery because the tumor was cancerous. So, I have one kidney and I have another kidney that is [at] 60 percent. They took 40 percent of my kidney to make sure they can get all the cancer off it.”

According to Wade, his surgery was likely the first time that his family and his children “saw [him] weak.” (Wade shares children Zaire, 22, and Zaya, 17, with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches, son Xavier, 10, with ex Aja Metoyer and daughter Kaavia, 6, with wife Union, 52.)

“That moment was probably the weakest point I’ve ever felt in my life,” he said. “The moments I was by myself, I was struggling. One thing you never want to do as a man … is [for] your family to see you weak. It’s tough.”

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Wade further shared that he was “fortunate” that his family “jumped in” to help his recovery.

“I saw everybody show up for me and be there for me,” Wade said. “In that process of my weakness, I found strength in my family, in my friends, in my group.”

Wade has since recovered and made a vow “to do things differently” in his life.

“I came out of that and I’ve been doing things differently and I’ve been attacking life that way. I’m not waiting,” he concluded.