Bang Showbiz NZ

Dwyane Wade feels 'strong and healthy' after cancer battle

Bang Showbiz NZ

Wed, 12 March 2026 at 4:04 pm GMT+9·3-min read

Dwyane Wade feels "strong" and "healthy" after his battle with cancer. The 43-year-old former basketball star - who is married to actress Gabrielle Union - had a cancerous tumor removed from his kidney in December 2023 and he's now explained he's "free" of the disease almost two years after his shock diagnosis. During an appearance on 'Today with Jenna and Friends', he said: "It was cancer [but] it was only Stage 1. "Thank God that we caught it early. Now I’m back. I’m strong, I’m healthy. I feel great. I’m just a little more cautious ... "[I'm taking more time to] look around and really smell the moments in life [and] appreciate it all just a little bit more. I feel like one of the lucky ones. I’m cancer free." During the interview, Dwayne explained he initially saw a doctor as a precaution because both his father and grandfather had been diagnosed with prostate cancer - and he was blindsided by the results of the tests. He said: "I just started to be like, okay, well this is probably a part of my genetics and my history, let me go get checked out. When I turned 40, I went into the doctor and I was like: ‘Listen, I want to know everything.’ And in the midst of that, I was like: ‘Here are a few things that I’ve been feeling' ... "I got a call from my doctor and in the midst of that call, you could just hear her uncertainty. They thought they saw something on my kidney. They were like: ‘Well, we don’t know if it’s cancerous, but there’s something on there'." He went on to have surgery to remove the mass and Dwayne struggled with the idea of feeling "weak" - and he didn't want his wife to see him post-op. The former sports star said: "No one has ever really experienced me being weak. "I’ve always been the strong one, the most confident one, the world champion that has lifted the trophies over his head. That’s the image, but this was a moment where I knew I was going to be uncertain and a little weak ... "Once I came out of surgery, it was a pain that I had never felt before ... [I was] most afraid of being that vulnerable [in front of my wife}. "It sounds crazy because those are supposed to be the ones you want to be there in those moments of weakness ... but you don’t want them to see you in that space." It comes after Gabrielle previously admitted her husband's cancer journey had been a "challenge". Appearing on 'The View', the 'Bring It On' actress was admitted it took her "a while" to come to terms with his diagnosis, and her mind immediately went to the "absolute worse-case". She added: "You hear cancer [and] you're paralyzed because you think of the absolute worst-case scenario. "I've had so many friends who are cancer survivors. I didn't go there; I went to 'he's gone.' " She also revealed her husband decided not to share the diagnosis with the family for some time. She explained: "He didn't tell everybody. He didn't even tell our whole family. He really wanted this to be very under the radar. He didn't tell anyone."