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Dwyane Wade is 'proud son' after mom, 65, conquers fear of swimming

“Watching her overcome this fear was so damn inspiring,” he said.
/ Source: TODAY

After 51 years of avoiding the pool, former NBA star Dwyane Wade’s mom, Jolinda, finally conquered her fear of learning to swim.

Wade posted a sweet photo of his 65-year-old mother at a swim lesson.

"My mother conquered her fear of swimming today," he wrote on Monday. "Watching her overcome this fear was so damn inspiring. I am a proud son."

In an Instagram story, he wrote “You go girl!” with a picture of his mother and her hands triumphantly above her head.

Jolinda Wade cheers after going for a swim and conquering her fear.
Jolinda Wade cheers after going for a swim and conquering her fear.Dwayne Wade / Instagram

Jolinda Wade has had to overcome much more than a fear of the water in her lifetime. Addicted to drugs when Dwyane Wade was just a kid, she regularly would disappear for days, leaving her kids to fend for themselves.

“We would sit on the porch some nights, hoping she would just walk around that corner,” Dwyane Wade told Oprah Winfrey in a 2012 interview. “I kept my ear to the window, hoping I heard her voice or I’d walk myself, hoping to see her.”

Dwyane Wade Hosts "A Night On The RunWade"
Dwyane Wade and his mother, Jolinda Wade, on the red carpet on March 19, 2017 in Chicago.Bobby Metelus / Getty Images

Jolinda Wade told the Christian Broadcasting Network she landed in jail in 1994, when she was arrested for possessing crack cocaine with the intent to sell, and Dwyane Wade came to visit her.

“I saw the look on his face. Like ‘Why is my momma behind there? What’s going on?’ He didn’t know what was going on," she recalled. "And I remember saying, ‘Momma loves you.’ I said, ‘Who’s your favorite girl?’ He said, ‘You are, momma.’ But he didn’t understand. He did not understand why I was behind that glass."

She eventually found God and was able to get clean. Dwyane Wade even purchased her a church on Chicago’s South Side where he grew up.

“She’s strong,” he told Winfrey in 2012. “I’ve just seen her fight every day.”

After her swim lesson Tuesday, Jolinda Wade had plenty of celebrity support in her son's Instagram comments.

Jamie Foxx commented a few hearts and praise hands, while Reese Witherspoon wrote "Love this!"

Even swimming icon Michael Phelps chimed in his support.

"YES!!" the most decorated Olympian of all time wrote, adding some very apropos prayer hands emoji.