Selena Gomez left her fans speechless in September 2017 when she told her followers that she’d undergone a kidney transplant over the summer. Selena had been suffering from an autoimmune disease called Lupus and was having a torrid time, almost giving up on herself.
Francia, who was her roommate at the moment witnessed everything and she jumped in to help her and gave the ultimate sacrifice. This is the story of Francia Raisa who donated her kidney to her best friend.
Francia Raisa was actually born as Francia Raisa Almendárez. Her father was Renán Almendárez Coello, an American radio personality and because she did want to live under her father’s shadow and make a name for herself on her own, she left the Almendarez out of her name. Raisa studied at Bishop Alemany High School in California, where she was a cheerleader and studied acting.
She was always into acting, but her big break came when she appeared in Lil’ Romeo’s music video “My Girlfriend” as Tamy in 2004 and in Iyaz’s music video “So Big. She starred as Adrian Lee in the hit Family drama, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, from its inception in July 2008, until the series finale in early June 2013.
It was around 2008 that she met Selina at a Children’s hospital volunteering event and the two instantly became friends and roommates in a few years. Ten years later, when Selena had Lupus, she jumped in to donate her kidney.
And according to Francia, it was not a coincidence that they had the same blood type; it was fate. Selena was stunned. Waiting for a transplant can take a lot of time, requires a long list of examinations- physical and physiological but Francia went through an expedited process and got the process done in just 1 day.
Before the operation Francia was worried about her own health issues, recovery would have been tough. And it was really tough for Francia as she had severe weakness after the surgery, she couldn’t even lift her dog. She had to go through an intense mental and physical therapy to get her normal life back. She landed her role in the sitcom Grown-ish while she was recovering from the surgery.
This is when a rumor about falling out with Selena came out, but she rubbed these rumors off by saying that though she not in all of Selena’s Instagram photos, they still hang out a lot.
It’s not all about becoming a superstar for Francia since she skipped college to start her acting career, Francia still hopes that she can go back to complete her graduation someday. Francia is the epitome of a person who gives back to society, she regularly engages in social work.
She supports the NGO Unlikely heroes that help stop human trafficking. She also loves dancing and hopes her future roles would have a bit of dancing since she’s pretty much verse at every form of dance.