NBA Hall of Fame star Dwayne Wade said there was only one person he could bring into the hospital room when he emerged from surgery while battling kidney cancer back in 2023. Surprisingly, his choice was not his wife, actress Gabrielle Union. Instead, it was someone who’s known him his entire life.
The former Miami Heat player went on Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast to give new details from the harrowing time in his life after being diagnosed with stage 1 kidney cancer. The day he was due for surgery, he traveled to the hospital with both his wife and his father, Dwayne Wade Sr. He was expected to have 40 percent of his right kidney removed following the discovery of a 3-centimeter cancerous mass, per NBC News.
However, he said on the podcast he had to choose between his two guests as only one visitor was allowed with him post-op. Wade said deep down, he knew who he needed.
“I just thought about who I wanted to see in my most vulnerable state,” Wade said. “And it was my dad. I wanted my wife to see me when I woke up, I wanted her to be the first person I saw, but in my most vulnerable state, when I was probably as scared as I’ve ever been, I wanted my dad to be there. I was like, ‘I need my dad.’”
The two may have never seen their bond being strengthened due to sickness. Wade grew up knowing his dad to be militant, teaching him to be responsible at a young age. At 12 years old, Wade said he would wake up at 5 a.m. to iron his father’s clothes and sometimes, drive him to the train station so he could get to work.
“My dad was an amazing father, and he was there,” Wade said later in the podcast. “He showed up. He instilled things in us. Like I said, he was very militant, so a lot of ways that I am, when I say I’m OCD, a lot of that comes from my dad — make your bed, wash the dishes.”
On the other hand, his father also inspired him to pursue basketball. However, once Wade Sr. was diagnosed with prostate cancer, his road to recovery drew the two closer. Though, their bond became even stronger as the athlete embarked on his own health journey. Wade told TODAY he wasn’t even prompted to go get screened for cancer until the illness fell upon his father.
“My dad shared with me when he was going through prostate cancer, and I think we got closer through that process because I (was) obviously concerned about him, but we started communicating more because this was something that was a part of our genetic genes as men in our family,” Wade said.
Given the duality of their relationship — being both father-and-son and also health accountability buddies —Wade never thought he was too old to ever need his dad by his side - especially in crucial moments like the day of surgery.
“I chose my dad,” Wade said. “He’s the guy, for me. He’s always been. It’s crazy because I’m a mama’s boy, all those things, but my dad has been there.”