In 2023, former basketball star Dwyane Wade had a pretty big cancer scare. He had to have surgery to remove a 3-centimeter mass on his right kidney.
Thankfully, they caught it early and it was just at Stage 1 kidney cancer, but still, the impact it had on his personal life was massive.
During a recent interview with Marie Claire, Wade’s wife, Gabrielle Union, admitted her mind instantly went to the worst case scenario. She thought she was going to lose her husband and the father of her children.
It was hard to navigate publicly the things that were happening privately. Even though we all know plenty of survivors, immediately you go to death, immediately we all internalize his cancer. It’s our cancer.
The cancer diagnosis caused a strain on their marriage. Gabrielle admits it was hard to navigate it all because Wade wanted to keep it all a secret.
It’s a very selfish response that I had, and it caused all kinds of problems, but [so did] his need for secrecy about his cancer decisions. It just starts sowing the seeds of distrust. It just felt like he was trying to leave us—not in a marital sense, but a life and death sense. By the time he got it removed, I felt like we were more on the same page.
It’s hard to know exactly what she’s referring to with these comments. Is she saying that he wasn’t going to have it removed originally? Or is she just saying that it was hard to navigate while keeping it a secret from the world?
The good news is that he’s now cancer free, but they did have to remove 40% of his right kidney. But still, we’re glad his health and marriage are in a better place now.
