The Miami Heat shooting guard and Hall of Famer was diagnosed with kidney cancer in December 2023

Almost two years ago, NBA Hall of Famer Dwayne Wade was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and has now revealed the early symptoms he regrettably ignored before the devastating discovery.

The Miami Heat legend was just 41-years-old when he was told he had stage one cancer, although he was 40 when he initially went for a check-up, after hearing his dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 6ft4in former shooting guard, explained how during the initial appointment he had with his doctor, that he unknowingly ignored signs that he had 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,” he told Today.

“I had some some cramps, some pain, a little bit at times in my stomach that I did not understand,” he added.

“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.”

After an MRI scan he was told that they spotted something on his kidney, which took the now 43-year-old by surprise as he had initially gone in for a check-up of both his stomach and prostate.

Miami Heat legend Dwayne Wade was diagnosed with kidney cancer in December 2023 (Cindy Ord/VF25/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)

“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.”

He was then advised by his physician that the best thing to do would be to remove what they believed was a lesion.

“[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,” he told the publication.

Dwayne Wade with wife Gabrielle Union-Wade (The Hapa Blonde/GC Images)

“That’s when I knew that was, like, really serious.”

He underwent the surgery 15 months ago, in December 2023, and fortunately he had as the lesion turned out to be cancer.

“Thank God that we caught it early,” Wade told the outlet. “This wasn’t something that was able to grow. It was about 3 centimeters on my kidney.”

Following his diagnosis, he shared how it gave him a new outlook on life.

“I needed to sit down and think about my life, think about where I was and where I wanted to go, what was important, what wasn’t important, and it set me down,” he added.

“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.”