It’s been approximately two years since NBA Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade was diagnosed with kidney cancer. The former point guard was just 41 when he received the news that he had stage one cancer, and he’s now gone on record to reveal the early symptoms he ignored.
There are over two hundred types of cancer that we know of today. Some are easier to treat than others, as well as being more easily identified. With each passing year we, as a species, become better equipped in the fight against this deadly disease, and though the day when we can say it’s gone for good may seem far off, continued focus on finding a cure (or at the very least a sure-fire preventative) can only be a good thing.
Part of that focus entails sufferers and survivors speaking as openly as they feel comfortable with regarding the symptoms and signs they experienced. Catching a cancer early can literally mean the difference between life and death, so forewarned is certainly forearmed.
Miami Heat legend Dwayne Wade knows a thing or two about not taking risks where doctor checkups are concerned. At 40, the NBA legend initially went for a checkup after his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but at that time he was actively ignoring signs that he himself was developing kidney cancer.
“I talked about just having a slow stream, like sometimes when I would go to the bathroom, my urine would come out little slow,” Wade told TODAY.
“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.”
Ultimately an MRI scan revealed that the basketball legend had a lesion on his kidney. The result took the now-43-year-old by surprise, while the doctors were keen to investigate the matter further.
“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,'” Wade said.
“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.”
On the advice of his doctor, Wade decided to undergo surgery to remove the lesion and have it tested.
He explained: “[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.”
In December 2023, Wade went under the knife. It turned out to be a good thing, too, as the lesion was revealed to be cancerous.
“Thank God that we caught it early,” Dwyane Wade told Today. “This wasn’t something that was able to grow. It was about 3 centimeters on my kidney.”
If you’re ever in doubt, always check with your doctor. Something as trivial as a new mark on your skin could be cancer, so it’s better to be safe than sorry!
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