True fans of Selena Gomez are well aware of the fact that she suffered from Lupus for several years yet; many were surprised when she announced she would be taking a break from her career to undergo a kidney transplant. At the time, she seemed very lucky because she got her friend and fellow performer to donate a kidney and she recovered quickly after the surgery. On the other hand, Francia Raisa has expressed her difficulty in recovering from the process of donating a kidney to her friend, Selena Gomez as well as how close they have become as a result of the whole ordeal.
Francia, an actor or Grown-ish, a new series by Freeform will be on Harry Connick Jr.’s daytime talk show HARRY on Feb. 19 to promote the project. According to a report by JustJared, Raisa stated that the procedure took place in June however, Selena is yet to confirm the time she had surgery. From the report, it was stated that Selena enjoyed a very quick recovery but her friend Raisa on the other hand wasn’t that lucky.
Kidney Donation Saves Lives
“As a donor, it is a little harder because we give up something our body didn’t need to lose. It was difficult watching Selena come up immediately while I still had to go through several months of recovery. It was a very humbling experience. I couldn’t get up without having someone help me. I couldn’t move by myself, I couldn’t shower by myself. I am a very active person, which made it a lot more difficult for me when the doctor said I won’t be able to do anything myself for 2 months. I have a dog that I used to walk every day, so that was one of the things I missed the most. It was a really difficult time.”
Raisa opened up about her experience, which was personal and intense. It showed how brave she was, giving up one of her kidneys for a friend who needed it. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for her.
As she earlier stated on Today – Savannah Guthrie – anchor on NBC, the decision to donate one of her kidney was hers and no one else’s. She stated that she couldn’t bear to watch her friend’s health decline and the extensive waiting period for a donor didn’t help matters at all. She decided to get tested to see if she might be a compatible donor. In her words
“One day [Selena] came home and she was emotional. I hadn’t asked anything. I knew she hadn’t been feeling well. [Then] she couldn’t open a water bottle one day. She chucked it and she started crying. And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and that’s when she told me. And she goes, ‘I don’t know what to do. The list is seven to 10 years long.’ It just vomited out of me: I was like, ‘Of course I’ll get tested.'”
Fortunately, the results came out and the 2 were a match. As for why fans didn’t know until much later, well, Raisa noted in her JustJared Interview that:
“We wanted privacy. We had the surgery in June and no one knew till September. It was an important surgery and she felt bad about it considering that we are just friends and not family. Well, I guess that means I am now. We had both families around and it was good to have one big family. I lost my grand parents when I was a kid so her grand parents are mine now. I now have an extended family and that is just lovely”
We are like family now; after such an amazing experience, we just bonded more and now consider ourselves more than friends.
Raisa will definitely go down the BFF hall of fame as that healthy working actor who put her self at risk for her friend. After the surgery, Gomez was about and about attending events and making public appearances as early as September or October. Raisa on the other hand had a more difficult time. Her body needed more time to adjust to the loss of a kidney so she had to slowly work her way to full health. That said, by February 2018, she seems all good and well beyond the mend.
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