Dwyane Wade recently revealed that he contracted cancer and how stunning his diagnosis was. When it came time for him to have surgery, there was only one person he would have in the room wiith him.

During an appearance on Hoda Kotb’s Making Space podcast,  Wade shared that he wanted his father, Dwyane Wade Sr., to be the last person he saw before the procedure.

“I chose my dad. He’s the guy for me. He’s always been,” Wade explained. “It’s crazy because I’m a mama’s boy, all those things, but my dad has been there.”

Although his wife Gabrielle Union was present at the hospital, Wade shared why he wanted his father to be with him.

“I just thought about actually who I wanted to see in my most vulnerable state. 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,” Wade said. I was like, ‘I need my dad.’ “

The Basketball Hall of Famer also noted that it was his father who led him to take his health more seriously.

“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 shared.

“And so we started being able to share personal things,” he continued. “Like, I would call my dad after I left the hospital, like, ‘Yo, I just got a prostate exam, Pops, and the doctor did this,’ and he’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s nothing. She just wanted to do this.’ We just got close when his prostate cancer [was being treated].”