Dwyane Wade Reveals Surgical Procedure He Underwent After Doctor's Found Tumor in His Body

Dwyane Wade opened up about his health.

The 43-year-old retired NBA star revealed that he had around 40% of his kidney removed in December 2023 after doctors found a tumor on it.

He opened up about the experience in an episode of his The Why podcast.

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The episode of the podcast was shared exclusively with People. In it, Dwyane explained that he went to the doctor to have some symptoms checked out after putting off appointments for years.

Doctors ordered a scan of the athlete’s body and found a “cyst/tumor” on his kidney.

“And the doctor was like, ‘You need to have kidney surgery,’” Dwyane said, adding that multiple other doctors agreed with the decision. After the tumor was removed, doctors confirmed that it was cancerous.

Dwyane did not provide any details about his health in 2025, but we hope that he is doing better.

He did discuss how the surgery changed his relationship with family and concepts of strength.

“My own journey to have that surgery, I think it was the first time that my family, my dad, my kids, they saw me weak,” he said. “That moment was probably the weakest point I’ve ever felt in my life”

He continued, saying, “As a man, you never want your family to see you weak Don’t want to be perceived weak, don’t want to be seen in your weakest moments but I had to.”