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Selena Gomez's kidney donor Francia Raisa says singer almost died after transplant

There was a complication

Ilana Kaplan
Friday 09 March 2018 18:00 GMT
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Credit: Getty
Credit: Getty (Getty)

Selena Gomez's kidney transplant almost killed her, according to her best friend Francia Raisa who donated the organ.

The singer underwent the three-hour surgery for her battle with lupus.

In an interview with W, Raisa discussed how things became near-fatal during the procedure. The Grown-ish actress described the recovery as "hard."

She said, "I didn't want to eat, I didn't want to drink anything. Selena did have a complication, too. 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 it turned I broke an artery.'

Raisa said they had her go into emergency surgery "to get a vein from her leg and build a new artery" so that the kidney would stay in place.

"She could have died," Raisa said.

Following their surgeries, Gomez posted a photo of she and Raisa together explaining what had been going on with her health.

Gomez first discussed her lupus publicly in 2015 after flying under the radar to focus on healing.

“I was diagnosed with [autoimmune disease] lupus, and I’ve been through chemotherapy," she told Billboard. "That’s what my break was really about. I could’ve had a stroke.”

Since her transplant, Gomez has been back working on season two of 13 Reasons Why and on her next album.

In February, it was confirmed she had been in a treatment facility for anxiety and depression.

Hopefully Gomez continues putting her health first.

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