One of the reasons that we all love Selena Gomez is that she has been incredibly open and outspoken about her battle with Lupus. It takes someone truly brave to let us in on her journey and bring attention to the autoimmune disease. Last fall, Selena Gomez revealed that she underwent a kidney transplant because of her Lupus and recently opened up about what it was like to undergo the life-saving procedure. Finding a match was a miracle, but the fact that it was one other than her BFF Francia Raísa, is truly remarkable.
Francia Raísa, the Mexican-Honduran-American actress currently starring in grown-ish, is now opening up about what it was like to donate a kidney to her best friend. Raísa opened up about the kidney transplant in an interview with Harry Connick Jr. The interview aired on Harry’s talk show on Monday, February 19th, and the star detailed the difficulty of recovering after such a major surgery and why it can sometimes be more difficult for the donor (Francia) than the recipient (Selena).
“We are losing something our body didn’t need to lose,” she revealed to Connick Jr, though she admits she is glad that Selena was able to “gain[…] something her body needed.”
Still, Raísa admitted that she had a “hard time” while recovering from the kidney transplant that changed the life of her BFF. It was very invasive and left her needing to rely on others. “It was laparoscopic. Those mothers out there who had C-sections, I feel you. I don’t know how you take care of a child afterwards. It is crazy. I couldn’t get up without having someone help me. That was very humbling.”
The lack of mobility took a toll on the usually active star. “I’m a very, very active person…my doctor said I couldn’t move for two months, I couldn’t do anything active. All I could do was walk,” she said. “That was very hard for me, and I have a dog. And every day the thing I look forward to is drinking my coffee, and walking, and I couldn’t do that. It was really, really hard.”
Despite the difficulty, it’s great to see both stars out-and-about and doing well. Congrats to Francia on her recovery and for basically being the best BFF anyone could hope for.
