In a new interview with W Magazine, Francia Raísa—Gomez’s kidney donor and best friend—opened up about how they both endured tough recoveries. Raisa revealed the kidney transplant that was supposed to save Selena Gomez almost killed her.
“I didn’t want to eat, I didn’t want to drink anything. Selena did have a complication, too,” Raísa told W Magazine. “A few hours after our surgery, I woke up and had a text from her that said, ‘I’m really scared.’ My kidney was very active, and when she turned, she broke an artery.”
Raísa continued, “They had to take [Gomez] into emergency surgery and get a vein from her leg and build a new artery to keep my kidney in place. She could have died.”
The best friends kept a lid on their surgeries for a few weeks because they both “went through a depression,” Raísa shared. “We kind of just wanted to be normal and not have that attention on us. I really left it up to [Gomez].”
In 2015, Gomez announced that she had been diagnosed with lupus and had undergone chemotherapy treatment. She later revealed in September 2017 that she had a kidney transplant and that Grown-ish actress Raísa had donated the kidney.
According to People, Raísa’s recovery period took two months. In a Today interview with both Gomez and Raísa, Gomez credited Raísa for saving her life, “Because she did. That’s it. I guess I got to the point where it was really kind of life or death,” Gomez said.
