Selena Gomez recently received a kidney transplant from television actress Francia Raisa because of her struggle with lupus, the actress-singer revealed 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 didn’t reveal Gomez’s current condition or say where or when the procedure took place.
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.”
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.” 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.
Lupus also tends not to come back after the operation.
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