 "Selena Gomez undergoes successful kidney transplant after lupus diagnosis last year")
Los Angeles: Selena Gomez recently received a kidney transplant from television actress Francia Raisa due to her struggle with lupus, the actress-singer revealed on Thursday.
Gomez disclosed in an Instagram post, confirmed by her publicist, that she has been somewhat out of the spotlight this summer because she was recovering from the procedure. The 25-year-old calls the transplant “what I needed to do for my overall health.”
The post did not reveal Gomez’s current condition or say where or when the procedure took place. Gomez’s publicist declined to release more information.
Gomez wrote “there aren’t words to describe” how she can thank Raisa, who she says gave “the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney.” “I am incredibly blessed,” she added.
The Instagram post includes a picture of Gomez and Raisa holding hands while lying side-by-side in hospital beds and another photo of a scar on Gomez’s abdomen. The 29-year-old Raisa is best known for her role on the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Raisa’s publicist did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
Gomez revealed her lupus diagnosis in 2015 and took a break from her career last year to deal with anxiety, panic attacks and depression stemming from her battle with the disease. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, where the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues, sometimes including the kidneys. “One healthy kidney is all the body needs so a single kidney transplant can resolve the problem”, said Dr David Klassen, chief medical officer for the United Network for Organ Sharing, which runs the nation’s transplant system. “Lupus tends to be a disease of younger women, and younger people tend to do better with transplants than older patients, so the expectation is she would do quite well,” he said of Gomez. Lupus also tends not to come back after the operation — “the drugs that prevent kidney rejection are also very good for treating lupus, the underlying disease,” Klassen said.
