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We know that Selena Gomez has gone through some health issues as well as some personal problems because she’s told us about it. She’s been honest, open and vulnerable in interviews and I think that’s a major part of her appeal. A lot of young and older people, like me, can relate to her. Selena recently posted on Instagram about a major operation she went through this summer which she’s kept quiet until now. She had a kidney transplant, necessitated by lupus. We know that Selena has lupus as she revealed it in an interview a couple of years ago, along with the fact that it was so severe she needed chemotherapy. This summer, Selena took a break from touring, revealing that she suffered from anxiety, panic attacks and depression as a side effect of lupus. It turns out that she was also dealing with a kidney transplant, graciously donated by her dear friend, the actress Francia Raisa. Here’s Selena’s post and it’s a slideshow where she showed her operation scars in an additional two photos.
That gave me the feels. That’s a deep friendship right there. Would you donate a kidney to your good friend? I don’t think I would, I mean I might if it was the very last minute and they couldn’t hold on, but honestly I would wait and see if someone else would step up first. Certain family members would get my kidney almost immediately, but I’m not specifying which ones.
I hope Selena is ok now, I hope she’s recovering and I hope that her boyfriend Abel/The Weeknd is a supportive partner to her. Also, I have to do more research on lupus. I wasn’t aware how life-affecting it can be. According to the National Research Center on Lupus, 90% of patients with the non-organ threatening type will live a normal lifespan. Selena seems to have a more serious variation, judging by the fact that she needed a kidney. Lupus can vary greatly in how it affects different patients.
photos credit: Getty, Instagram/Selena Gomez and WENN
Wow. Good luck to her. A kidney transplant is major.
Her friend is awesome. What a commitment to make to another person, especially given how young they are. I love hearing about strong friendships between women.
MTE – that is one amazing. I’d like to think that I’d do the same for my family / friends, but this woman actually did it…incredible.
Agreed. Hopefully she’ll be okay. And she looks beautiful in the picture where she has the beige dress & dark lipstick. Can’t remember where she wore it.
Oh wow, not a huge fan but I do hope she’s okay now. She seems like a lovely person , she really does.
Oh that’s terrible for such a young woman. She is blessed to have a friend like that. I wish she could date some sweet guy who would treat her well, she deserves it.
She’s blessed to have a friend like that but also very lucky that the friend’s kidney was a match. My boss is dying from a kidney failure now – he’s been on dialysis so long that it won’t be a solution for much longer – and no one from his huge family is a match. He is a millionaire with lots of connections so he even tried to aquire one illegally but no matches.
Has he tried to see about arranging a donation “chain”? If one of his relatives is a match for someone else who needs a kidney, and they have a willing donor who would be a match for him, it could work. It’s something that’s happened in my city (Houston, we’ve got one of the country’s best medical centers) fairly often and I believe that there are organizations that can help with the arrangements.
He claims to have tried everything. Maybe again in this situation no one was a match for him? I don’t understand why (I’m his employee, so we’re not close enought to share such information) but for some medical reason he has a much lower chance of finding a match than most people. And he has a double Taiwanese-American citizenship and has businesses in half of Europe, so he tried all over the place.
He must have a rare tissue (HLA) type. Unlucky.
It is official .CDAN’s blinds are BS on her.
Great friend.I how it is difficult to find a donor
What was the blind?
At least all his blinds on Gomez this year apparently.
Not just on her. Its all fiction. Often they even contradict earlier blinds about the same celeb.
In my opinion ,50% are all fiction after the release of some pics in tabloid,40% are exaggerated or distorted of reality and 10% are true ( often on the reality tv stars)
Once I sent him a gossip from a French tabloid about Kidman during Cannes fest.CDAN wrote a blind with just a part of reality ( Kidman always is in late because of her assistant )
CDAN is a fraud and has been proved so time and time again. I could speculate on gossip and be half right sometimes too without knowing a damn about the truth.
Right?! I had trouble believing those to begin with. I’m sure they will say she’s making this up just like they said she was making up having lupus. I wonder why people have it out for her? She seems like a really sweet girl.
But Blind Gossip had exactly the same thing – the “lupus” problem was related or a cover for drug use and the kidney failure is a common side effect of drug use.
An amazing friend! Omg I want to watch everything she is in now.
She is the next Woody Allen movie .Enjoy
Lol… Succinctly put.
glad she is healthy and I dont wish ill towards her in any way but the timing of this admission is very obviously a strategic Hollywood PR response to the criticism of her working with allen. i wish her well as a fellow human, but she is still trash for working with a pedo. one does not negate the other.
Wow. This young girl has a life-threatening condition and just went through a taxing surgery on her already vulnerable body and you call her trash, Cate? I think you’re looking in the mirror. People are so vile when they can remain anonymous.
lua, we are all free to have our opinion. tolerating and enabling someone who abuses children is gross. vile would be to wish her ill, which i dont. people can wish her the best in her health struggle and have sympathy for her without giving her a pass on her endorsement of a sex offender. its not rocket science nor is it about being a “vile” person.
@cate – You can think she’s trash as long as you also think that the following people are ALSO trash:
Cate Blanchett
Jesse Eisenberg
Emma Stone
Joaquin Phoenix
Penelope Cruz
Ellen Page
Rachel McAdams
Naomi Watts
And many others
@ usgichan : but I DO also think those people are trash for working with Allen. And don’t forget Kristen Stewart.
Wow what a sacrifice. Big ups to Francia for making such a huge life altering desicion for a friend.
I have a friend with lupus and I see every day how she struggles. Some days are worse for her than others. It’s heartbreaking.
I would donate a kidney to a dear friend, definitely. I tried to donate a kidney to my niece, but I wasn’t a match. She had three kidney plants over her lifetime, but sadly there came a point where she had to be on permanent dialysis and that couldn’t last forever for her. She was a real warrior, though, and is greatly missed by all those who loved her.
Best to you, Selena AND Francia!
Vava I am so sorry to hear about your niece.
My heart goes out to you, I’m very sorry for your loss.
I just handed in the paperwork to be tested for my dad, to see if I can donate to him or for him in that program exchange that they have. reading your comment gave me instant tears and running nose. I’m sorry for your loss and your niece sounds amazing.
I hope Selena helps out the girl in other ways like setting up for retirement or something. It would probably great relief for the friend to not have economic anxiety
What a great friend. I hope Selena’s health continues to improve.
That was an amazing thing for her friend to do.
How amazing that she has such a strong friendship that her friend did this for her! I’m glad she’s recovering well and I hope that she continues to get stronger and feel better!
All of the blinds about her being a drug addict and using Lupus as an excuse made me feel icky. Lupus is very serious and, obviously, she has it. Wonder who they’ll try to pin those blinds on now.
Yes, me too. If she was going to pick an illness to cover with, she definitely wouldn’t have picked Lupus. It’s absolutely awful.
Or maybe she’s on prescription drugs for the Lupus. I have a cousin who has it, and when she has to take some of her meds, she can seem very stoned/out of it. But it’s not like she has a choice in taking them, she needs them to live.
I also have a friend who passed away very young from kidney complications due to lupus. He had a match in his family, but they wouldn’t give him a kidney. Lupus is a terrible disease.
I’ve seen those rumors as be for a long time.
Kudos to her friend. Its also good for awareness, not only Lupus but organ donation.
Best wishes to her. What a beautiful friendship they have.
Wait a second…isn’t that the girl from The Secret Life of the American Teenager and the Cutting Edge sequels?
Yes. I recognized her from the Cutting Edge movies.
I would never donate a kidney unless I was done having kids or wanted to remain childless. My friend’s dad needs a kidney, so she went to get tested. The doctors made it clear that being pregnant with only one kidney puts enormous stress on the other kidney, and there can be a lot of complications. Increased risk of high blood pressure, more likely that the remaining kidney will have reduced function after about 25 years (much larger issue if you’re only 25 when donating).
I am sure she was aware of the risks.Donating a kidney in itself is risky,meaning the surgery is risky.She obviously felt it was worth the risk.She is a great friend.
Surely the hospital went over that with her friend. There are psychological assessments in organ donation, of both parties. It’s not that simple and matches can be hard to make.
They also assessed Gomez, because she will need to be on immune-suppressant drugs (depending on her protocol) and otherwise prepared to take care of herself to ensure the success of the donation. Good luck to both of them.
Organ donation is one way we can help others live, whether you’re living (as in this situation) or not. Check with your motor vehicles department on ways you can make your wishes known and document it in every possible way. So many different types of tissue can give life and ability to others – even your corneas can be used!
Wishing Selena a speedy recovery, she’s so young and hopefully has a full life to look forward to.
I have Lupus and it is a strange disease. Very misunderstood and often misdiagnosed. Not much is known about it, especially how to treat it. There are varying types of Lupus and they range in severity. It appears Selena has the most severe type. And that can be a death sentence. There are really very few treatment options. Certain chemo drugs can give relief from the symptoms but will not cure the disease.
I really feel for her. Lupus is debilitating and she will be fighting it the rest of her life unless a cure is found. Currently, even with drugs and treatment there is no hope of remission.
Oof. I don’t know who would get a kidney from me. I think my parents and immediate relatives wouldn’t take it, frankly. They are all around or over 70 though. My sister for sure. But then … honestly, possibly one or two. I’m still quite young and what if I have an accident or that one kidney gives up at some point? Also, I can’t imagine how that friendship would change. Would we ever be able to forget it? Would someone feel like they owe the other person something?
I’d give one to my husband, most of my friends, my niece, and my stepdaughter (albeit reluctantly because I’d never hear the end of it from her mother) lol
My mom wouldn’t accept it, my dad takes horrible care of himself… I’d lie and tell my 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters that my husband and I were trying to conceive and I can’t (which would absolutely never ever happen).
This probably makes me a horrible person, but if you can’t be honest on the Internet then when the hell can you? ;D
LOL I know, right? I used to think oh hell, of course I’d donate a kidney to my friends and everyone who needs it. But you get older and you see people get sick etc. and you realize that your own good health is all that really matters. So putting that on the line for anyone is not a decision to be taken lightly.
Wow. She’s so young and been through so much. Lupus can be truly debilitating and she’s so lucky to have such a wonderful friend.
Why call it kidney replacement not transplant? Just curious.
Remission is possible for some with Lupus. I don’t always have to be on steroids or immune suppressants and have periods of wellness on just plaquenil.
I think the hardest part is that it can be an invisible illness and others can’t tell how challenging it is.
As an autoimmune disease, Lupus is very serious. I have a friend who has Lupus, and he has been on dialysis for the last 20/+ years because it destroyed his kidneys. He had an organ donor match at one point, but panicked and refused it. Once you turn down a transplant offer they generally never offer the opportunity again. Immune system modulation can be helped with Acupuncture & Chinese herbs, and even though it won’t reverse the damage it can stop or slow diseases of all kinds~including autoimmune diseases~from progressing.
Male singers her age seem to be allowed a certain amount of mystery. Harry styles isn’t justifying personal things like this and instead women like Selena and Kesha feel the need to validate themselves to the public where men aren’t expected to. If Selena is doing this on her own free will that’s one thing but I fear it’s because women are expected to constantly explain themselves
So much for those nasty rumors about Selena being in rehab. Her friend is her hero. What an incredible gesture.
Now that is a great friend!
Wishing her well. She’s a very sick young woman, and the problem with Lupus is it’s not going anywhere. This may be the first of many kidneys. I’ve had lupus for coming up on 20 years. Not nearly as severe as Selena, but every day is a struggle. Good luck to her!
I hope she’ll recovery soon. She now have to take pills that wont allow her to have kids.
When I read this yesterday my heart went out to her. I was like “Damn, you lupus!” I knew it was lupus before I read what happened. Poor baby girl, my heart goes out to her. I am twice her age and was diagnosed with lupus when I was seventeen. It is the worst. It is a disease nobody talks about and there is a stigma too it. Yes, I have been called an addict. I have never taken drugs in my life, not even recreation. I couldn’t because it would wreak havoc with my lupus. I have severe anxiety, panic attacks and debilitating depression because of lupus. I had a bad flare up this week and still trying to feel better. I have the lupus I can have a very long life but Selena has the lupus that could or will kill her. Lupus sister with you Selena. Stay strong sweetie.