Former NBA star Dwyane Wade can't help but gush over his mother's fortitude.
Wade shared in an Instagram post Tuesday that his mom, Jolinda Wade, has always said she wanted to learn to swim, but she hadn't been in a pool in 51 years.
On Monday, the 65-year-old accomplished her goal, he added.
"My mother conquered her fear of swimming today," Wade wrote. "Watching her overcome this fear was so damn inspiring. I am a proud son."
Wade, 38, and his mother have overcome many obstacles to get their relationship to where it is today. Jolinda Wade struggled with a drug addiction when Dwyane Wade was young, but the former NBA player, who lived with his father as a child, told Oprah Winfrey in 2012 that he "never gave up on her" and "never blamed her."
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"That was her life. That was her journey, her path," he said. "Without that path, I'm not who I am today."
Eventually, Jolinda Wade got sober, and according to a 2008 profile by ESPN turned herself in to authorities in 2001 to serve a prison term. While behind bars, she started a ministry, ESPN reported, and in 2008, Dwyane Wade bought her a church in their hometown of Chicago.
"I feel reborn," Jolinda Wade told ESPN at the time. "Matter of fact, I feel reborn every day. There's always something new every day. I just thank God for the experience."
