Francia Raisa described the moment she decided to volunteer her kidney for Selena Gomez
If you’re up to date on recent Selena Gomez news, you’ll know that she recently received a life-saving kidney from her friend Francia Raisa. In an interview with Today news anchor Susannah Guthrie, Gomez revealed her transplant details — but we also got to hear from Raisa.
Raisa described the powerful moment when she understood the immense struggle Gomez was going through, and said it was the moment she ultimately decided to volunteer her own kidney to her friend.
"She couldn't open a water bottle one day," Raisa recalled. "She chucked it and she started crying. I said, ‘What's wrong?' and that's when she told me. She goes, ‘I don't know what to do. The [kidney donor] list is seven to 10 years long.'"
At first, Gomez objected to the idea of Raisa going through with such a huge gesture. “I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life” Gomez said in the same interview. “The thought of asking somebody to do that was really difficult for me.” But she came around, and luckily, Raisa was a physical match.
Of course, having a kidney removed comes with risks.
Raisa had to prepare for the possibility that things might not go as planned. “I had to write a will, which was scary because there’s no guarantee you’ll wake up,” she shared, adding that her mom didn’t want to be there until she woke up (totally understandable).
Luckily, the surgery was a success.
According to Raisa, recovering from her kidney surgery has been a humbling experience.
"It was hard because you constantly needed to ask for help. I think one of the most humbling experiences was needing help to put on underwear. We couldn't take showers by ourselves. It was a brutal process."
And while everything ultimately turned out okay, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Gomez’s kidney apparently flipped inside her body, causing immense pain and an additional surgery. However, she also noted that she’s feeling better than ever now, and that her Lupus only has a three to five percent chance of returning.
We can’t even begin to imagine the emotional and physical toll both donating and receiving a kidney takes on one’s mind and body, but we are so glad these two had each other to lean on during what sounded like an extremely trying time. We’re so glad everyone is doing well, and let this serve as a reminder of the power of friendship and loving gestures.
