The Subtle Symptoms Dwyane Wade Had Before His Kidney Cancer Diagnosis at 41
The NBA star is currently guest co-hosting TODAY with Jenna & Friends alongside Jenna Bush Hager.
Retired NBA legend Dwyane Wade is making the most of his time guest-hosting TODAY with Jenna & Friends this week by passing along a very important message.
Early detection may have saved the star's life. In a candid interview that aired on the March 11 episode of TODAY, Wade spoke about the kidney cancer scare he had in 2023. Fueled by relatively minor symptoms, a routine check-up caused the three-time NBA champion to grow in ways he didn't expect.
The now-43-year-old went in for an appointment two years ago — mainly for peace of mind — after his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Wade recalled telling his doctor about his symptoms at the time.
"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 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."
One MRI later, Wade's doctors passed along some potentially frightening news for the father of five.
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"She expressed to me that it was very early, but they thought they saw something on my kidneys," Wade remembered. "I didn't go in for my kidneys. I went in to check what was going on my stomach and my prostate."
More tests revealed a legion on Wade's kidney — a mass eventually determined to be stage 1 cancer.
"That's when I knew that was, like, really serious," Wade confessed.
Dwyane Wade sees the world in a new light after his cancer scare
Fortunately, surgery removed the 3-centimeter-long legion on his kidney, and Wade was given a clean bill of health from his doctors. Unsurprisingly, the scare caused the NBA Hall of Famer to rethink life.
"I spent a lot of time writing in my journal, spent a lot of time thinking about what I want the next 40 years or so to look like and feel like, and so it's a really important time in my life at the same time," Wade said. "When people hear cancer, obviously immediately they think it's over."
In 2025, the star stresses the importance of men going to the doctor — even if they feel perfectly healthy.
"But it's really helped me," he explained. "I think being able to speak about it in an environment with other men that I know, a lot of us are not going to check ourselves out if we don't feel nothing. If nothing is happening, we're like, 'We're good.' And I want us to get over that. I want us to grow from that."
