--- title: Selena Gomez's Friend and Kidney Donor Shares Surgery Scar description: Francia Raisa, the best friend who donated a kidney to Selena Gomez, shared a video of herself on Instagram on Thursday lifting weights. canonical: https://time.com/4953440/selena-gomezs-francia-raisa-instagram/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-22T16:38:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:28.294Z og:title: Selena Gomez's Best Friend and Kidney Donor Showed Off Her Surgery Scar on Instagram og:description: Francia Raisa has made a quick recovery og:url: https://time.com/4953440/selena-gomezs-francia-raisa-instagram/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc51515e151cf1e4f/6988ddc04ee262298a30efcf/gettyimages-458678872.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4085 og:image:height: 2298 og:image:alt: selena gomez francia riasa kidney transplant og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Selena Gomez's Best Friend and Kidney Donor Showed Off Her Surgery Scar on Instagram twitter:description: Francia Raisa has made a quick recovery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc51515e151cf1e4f/6988ddc04ee262298a30efcf/gettyimages-458678872.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Selena Gomez's Kidney Donor Showed Off Her Surgery Scar on Instagram > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=49da263d-db2e-4c8c-9eca-f501f4fc5d32&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Alexia Fernandez / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Alexia Fernandez / People Contributor Sep 22, 2017 4:38 PM UTC  Actress Francia Raisa and actress/singer Selena Gomez attend the Unlikely Heroes' 3rd Annual Awards Dinner And Gala at Sofitel Hotel on Nov. 8, 2014 in Los Angeles. Actress Francia Raisa and actress/singer Selena Gomez attend the Unlikely Heroes' 3rd Annual Awards Dinner And Gala at Sofitel Hotel on Nov. 8, 2014 in Los Angeles. Vivien Killilea—Getty Images for Unlikely Heroes by [Alexia Fernandez / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Alexia Fernandez / People Contributor Sep 22, 2017 4:38 PM UTC She’s back in action. [Francia Raisa](http://people.com/music/selena-gomez-kidney-donor-francia-raisa-all-about/), the best friend [who donated a kidney](http://people.com/music/selena-gomez-kidney-transplant-inside-her-recovery/) to [Selena Gomez](http://people.com/tag/selena-gomez/) early this summer, shared a video of herself on Instagram on Thursday lifting weights. “Happy to be back,” she wrote in the caption. The 29-year-old actress was revealed to be Gomez’s kidney donor, after the 25-year-old singer shared a photo of them on separate hospital beds holding hands. Raisa’s mother, [Virginia Almendarez](http://people.com/music/selena-gomez-kidney-transplant-francia-raisa-mother-everything-came-out-perfectly/), spoke to Telemundo’s [_Al Rojo Vivo_ ](http://www.telemundo.com/shows/2017/09/14/estoy-orgullosa-de-las-dos-dice-madre-de-donante-de-selena-gomez)following the news that Raisa donated her kidney in hopes of aiding Gomez’s battle with the chronic autoimmune disease [lupus](http://people.com/bodies/selena-gomez-talks-about-lupus-diagnosis-recovery/). “They’ve been friends for many years. They’re like sisters. I love her a lot, too. She loves me a lot. She says I’m her mom,” Almendarez told the Spanish-language broadcaster of her daughter and Gomez. “All I could do was support her. People need to know that you can live with one kidney, there are a lot of individuals that get scared to donate to people that need it because they’re afraid of never again living a normal life. But there is no danger,” Almendarez explained, adding that Gomez’s mother, [Mandy Teefey](http://people.com/chica/selena-gomez-mom-left-comment-on-the-weeknds-instagram/), gave her a big hug and said: “I don’t know what to say.” Gomez’s [family members](http://people.com/music/selena-gomez-mandy-teefey-helpless-kidney-transplant/) were not a match for a kidney, but luckily Raisa — who first met Gomez at a charity event when they were teens — proved to be. According to Raisa’s mom, the longtime friends are closer than ever. “The love between them has really grown. Selena is a great girl, and she also has a big heart, as does Francia. I’m very proud of both of them,” Almendarez said. “Francia has a huge heart because not anyone would just let go of one of their organs to give it to someone else.” _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/bodies/francia-raisa-reveals-scar-months-after-donating-kidney/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4953440/selena-gomezs-francia-raisa-instagram/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4953440/selena-gomezs-francia-raisa-instagram/"},"headline":"Selena Gomez's Kidney Donor Showed Off Her Surgery Scar on Instagram","datePublished":"2017-09-22T16:38:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:28.294Z","description":"Francia Raisa has made a quick recovery","url":"https://time.com/4953440/selena-gomezs-francia-raisa-instagram/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc51515e151cf1e4f/6988ddc04ee262298a30efcf/gettyimages-458678872.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexia Fernandez / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc51515e151cf1e4f/6988ddc04ee262298a30efcf/gettyimages-458678872.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"selena gomez francia riasa kidney transplant","caption":"Unlikely Heroes' 3rd Annual Awards Dinner And Gala","creditText":"Vivien Killilea—Getty Images for Unlikely Heroes","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4953440/selena-gomezs-francia-raisa-instagram/","name":"Selena Gomez's Kidney Donor Showed Off Her Surgery Scar on Instagram"}}]}] ```